Sand Bass and basmati rice lunch? Yes please!

[King Saba]

Ingredients: 2lb sand bass
sea salt and pepper to generously sprinkle
4 tbsp of canola oil

3/4 cup of basmati rice
3/4 cup of water
1/2 tbsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tbsp butter (not margarine, can use oil as a substitute)
5-6 sprigs of thyme
1/2 a lime's juice

~~~Cooking the RICE~~~
1) Wash rice until water is faintly cloudy
2) Add rice, water, salt, sugar, and thyme in a rice cooker
3) Press cook!
4) Add lime juice once rice is finished and thoroughly mix to bring out the citrus aroma and acidity

~~~Cooking the fish~~~
1) Leave fish outside of the fridge and bring up to room temperature to minimize moisture loss when cooking
2) Filet bass, and break down head and bones
3) Add salt and pepper to taste (the amount is to your choosing, but I like my fish with extra pepper and a moderate amount of salt)
4) Add canola oil to hot pan
5) Bring heat down to medium high once the oil is up to temperature
6) Place bones and head in pan first to extract juices and flavor from the fish
7) Fry until crispy and remove
8) Place filets in pan skin side down
9) Cook until skin is crispy and filet becomes mostly white
10) Flip filets and lightly fry on other side to finish up filet (can cook until meat becomes lightly brown, but BEWARE you will lose some of the juiciness in the meat)
11) Place filets on plate
12) Scoop rice
13) Add oil and juices from pan onto rice
14) Add lime wedge
15) Serve

The key to the fish is to cook on a medium high heat and ensure that the fish is warm before cooking to minimize moisture loss.

Hope you guys like my simple bass and rice lunch. It was sooooooo... good. I'm thinking that rockfish would compliment the rice even better than the sand bass since the meat is more flaky than bass meat.

[DanaPT]

Fish and chips.

[taggermike]

Looks great. Sandies don't get a lot of respect as a food fish but they're a good solid white meat fish. Enjoy. Mike