Gordon Ramsay’s sea bass is pan-fried fillets with crispy skin, served over couscous with a Mediterranean sauce of cherry tomatoes, olives, chilli and sundried tomatoes. Crispy aubergine slices go around the plate. The recipe comes from Ramsay in 10 and serves 2 in under 10 minutes.
Ramsay says he first tried this in a restaurant outside Saint-Tropez, and the YouTube version clocked in at 9 minutes 40 seconds. Sea bass is the fish he takes most seriously across all his books, which shows once you see how many versions exist.
The aubergine is what makes or breaks this dish. It goes in first because it takes longer than the fish, and the oil must be hot before the slices hit the pan. Cold oil means the aubergine soaks it up and turns greasy instead of crisp.
Gordon Ramsay’s Pan-Fried Sea Bass with Mediterranean Vegetables
Course: Dinner, MainCuisine: MediterraneanDifficulty: Easy2
servings10
minutes10
minutes420
kcal20
minutesSea bass fillets from Ramsay in 10 with a Mediterranean sauce you can make three days ahead. He calls sea bass his favourite fish and his signature dish in Secrets. Gluten-free and dairy-free as written.
Ingredients
- For the Mediterranean sauce:
Olive oil, for frying
2 baby aubergines (or 1 small), finely sliced
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 shallots, peeled and sliced
2 garlic cloves, sliced or grated
1-2 red chillies, deseeded and sliced
8-10 sundried tomatoes
125ml (½ cup) dry white wine
90ml (⅓ cup) vegetable stock
4 tbsp chopped tinned tomatoes or passata
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp pitted Kalamata olives
1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves
- For the fish:
4 small sea bass fillets, skin on
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil, for frying
- To serve:
460g (2 cups) cooked couscous (optional)
Directions
- Crisp the aubergine: Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Finely slice the aubergines and fry for 2–3 minutes, tossing occasionally, until brown and crisp. Season with salt, pepper and half the lemon zest. Drain on kitchen paper.
- Build the sauce: Wipe out the pan, add a drizzle of oil and cook the shallots and garlic until softened. Add the chilli and sundried tomatoes, then pour in the white wine and let it bubble for 30 seconds.
- Finish the sauce: Add the stock and tinned tomatoes, stir and remove from the heat. Drop in the halved cherry tomatoes, olives and oregano. Drizzle with olive oil and the remaining lemon zest.
- Pan-fry the fish: Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a separate non-stick pan over high heat. Score the sea bass skin with a sharp knife, season and lay skin-side down. Cook for 1–2 minutes until the skin is crisp, then flip. Drizzle with olive oil and squeeze over lemon juice. Remove from the heat.
- Plate: Divide the couscous between plates, spoon the sauce around it and place the fish on top, skin-side up. Arrange the crispy aubergine around the outside and drizzle with olive oil.
Notes
- The book says this is gluten-free and dairy-free as written. The sauce improves with time, so make it a day or two ahead if you can. Ramsay says in the video: “this sea bass cooks like salmon, 90% of it skin side down.”
FAQs
How does Ramsay get crispy skin on sea bass?
Score the skin with a sharp knife first, then season and lay it skin-side down in a very hot pan. The scoring stops the fillet curling, and the high heat crisps the skin in about 90 seconds. Ramsay says in the video that 90% of the cooking happens on the skin side.
The same technique works on his pan-seared halibut where he finishes in a butter and stock emulsion. With sea bass the fillets are thinner, so they only need a minute or two per side before the lemon juice goes in.
What is Ramsay’s signature sea bass dish?
In Secrets he writes: “My favourite fish is sea bass, in fact, it’s my signature dish.” That version is fillet of sea bass with jus vanille: vanilla-infused fish stock reduced to a sauce with braised salsify. He first experienced the idea in Paris, where lobster was being served with a vanilla sauce.
The Mediterranean recipe on this page is his home version, inspired by a restaurant near Saint-Tropez. In Cooking for Friends he has a third take: whole sea bass baked with olives, tomatoes and fennel, from his days cooking on a luxury yacht. For another fish he cooks just as many ways, his halibut guide covers seven preparations across his books.
Can you bake sea bass instead of pan frying?
Yes, and Ramsay has three baked versions across his books. In Great British Pub Food he stuffs a whole bass with rosemary, basil, garlic and lemon, then bakes at 200C for 15-20 minutes with lemon couscous. In UCC he wraps fillets with fennel, dill, capers and lemon in foil with a splash of white wine, which steams the fish inside the parcel.
The fennel and caper version is on YouTube too, where he calls sea bass “the king of the seas.” Baking is more forgiving than pan frying because the foil or oven does the work, though you lose the crispy skin.
Does Ramsay use brown butter with sea bass?
Not in this recipe, but the technique works. Pan-fry the fish skin-side down as normal, then add butter to the pan once you flip. Let it foam past golden until it smells nutty, then spoon it over the fish with lemon juice and capers.
For the Mediterranean version the olive oil and lemon juice do the finishing instead, which keeps it lighter and dairy-free. If you want a richer French approach, his salsa verde with capers and anchovies gives sea bass that sharp herby punch without needing butter at all.
What does Ramsay serve with sea bass?
In this recipe it is couscous with lemon juice, which soaks up the Mediterranean sauce. His most famous restaurant pairing is cauliflower puree with beetroot, which you see on Hell’s Kitchen and MasterChef regularly. On the F Word he serves it with broccoli and either a sorrel sauce or a roasted red pepper sauce with star anise.
The book headnote says the sauce can sit in the fridge for up to three days because the flavours develop. So you can batch the Mediterranean vegetables, then pan-fry the fish fresh each night. Stir his pesto through the couscous for an extra hit of herbs and the whole plate becomes a midweek rotation.
