I have to say that I am getting more and more impressed with the seafood counter at the Whole Foods in Bellevue. It isn’t Mutual Fish by any means, however it does have a really great selection of good quality fresh fish (a larger selection that Mutual actually). To top it off the fish guys that I have dealt with know their stuff, and are always chatty. I have found this certainly isn’t the case at all Whole Foods markets though! The new Seattle one, at Denny/Westlake has a tiny fish counter, bad looking fish, and people that could certainly know more about their products. The Bellevue one is convient for a stop in on the way home from work (yes, I admit… I work in Bellevue… ewwwww.) and I have to say gets more of my business than Mutual Fish because of it. I wish Mutual wasn’t completely out of the way for me, since it is in my opinion one of the best fish markets in Seattle. The selection is smaller than Bellevue WH, but the quality is higher, and the people are really good with fish. I still wouldn’t buy mussels or clams from WH though – had a couple of bad tasting batches from them, when Mutual has been consistently excellent.

Anyhow, enough about fish counters. It turns out that WH had (has?) some Branzini in at the moment. What is Branzini you ask… Well, it is a small fish – about 1lb total, that is really just a Mediterranean Sea Bass. The quality of the fish is spectacular – a good firm flaky flesh, great oils and mild flavor. Normally with a fish this size, I like to stuff it with lemon and aromatics (fennel, onion etc), and bake it, or grill it. This time though I decided to fillet it, and pan sear. I haven’t filleted a fish in a while, so I though it would be good practice. I have got out of the habit to be honest – the fishmongers take care of it for me when needed.

So what to have with it? Well, it really came down to what I had to use up in the fridge – and that would be a bunch of vegetables, and a carton of chicken broth that should be used soon. Being colder weather these days, I felt like something warm and brothy anyhow.

Some onions, shallots and garlic are gently softened in a pan. To this I added some carrots, chopped up potatoes and a Bouquet Garni of tyme, bay and parsley. A Bouquet Garni is really just a poncey name for a herb bag – which typically contains bay, parsley and thyme – and often peppercorns. The bag you make out of some cheesecloth, and just tie up the end. The great thing about this is that you get the herbs flavoring whatever you are cooking – but then you can remove them easily at the end, since they are in a tidy little bag. Into this pot I poured some chicken broth – and we let this simmer for 20 minutes. At the end I just threw in some chopped fresh flat leaf parsley (Italian).

For the fish – really simple to be honest. Seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, and pan seared slowly in olive oil until cooked through, and a decent golden color. This one I mainly cooked on the skin side, to make it nice a crispy. Then a quick flip over to add just a splash of color to the flesh.

A pretty darn easy dinner, that was really tasty. Hopefully the Branzini will be around for a bit at WH, it really is a superb fish that I would love to cook more of.