Baja Sea Bass

Baja Sea Bass

Baja Sea Bass
Recipe by Terranea Resort Executive Chef
Andrew Vaughan

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy in partnership with Terranea Resort recently hosted their annual Palos Verdes Pastoral Garden-to-Table Dining Experience. This year Pastoral highlighted the necessity of butterflies, bees, birds and other pollinators.

Sustainable food proponent, Chef Andrew Vaughan, created the event’s garden-to-table menu using the finest local sustainable seafood and the freshest ingredients and flavors to present delicious and thoughtful Low Carbon Footprint courses paired with an inspired selection of wines. (from PVPLC.org)

Palos Verdes Pastoral, Terranea Resort

The fish, Farmed True Striped Bass (aka Baja Sea Bass) has beautiful striped skin. The meat is white with a reddish-pink bloodline. It has a higher fat content than wild fish, providing excellent taste and texture.

Baja Sea Bass

This sushi-quality fish can be enjoyed raw, or in any variety of cooked applications. It is harvested to order from a small, responsibly run farm just off Ensenada, Mexico. (from Santa Monica Seafood)

The Chef graciously shares his recipe for Baja Sea Bass Cooked in Freshly Harvested Giant Kelp below. Merci beaucoup and muchas gracias, Chef!

The Recipe
Baja Sea Bass Cooked in Freshly Harvested Giant Kelp
Dried Cherries, Zucchini, Heirloom Faro and Black Quinoa Pilaf
Sunflower Seeds, Preserved Mandarin with Desert Sage

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Smoked Salmon Tostadas, Baja White Sauce

Smoked Salmon Tostadas

Smoked Salmon Tostadas, Baja White Sauce

It’s a riot of colors, textures, and flavors! Silky-smoky-salty salmon, crunchy shredded cabbage, nutty-buttery avocado, peppery-crisp radish, bright-green-vegetal jalapeño, screaming-hot habanero, zesty-sour lime, herby-citrusy cilantro, sweet-tangy pickled red onion all happily combined atop crispy-charred corn tortillas. And all dressed with Baja White Sauce, that classic sauce served on top of those crave-worthy fish tacos in Baja, California.

Smoked Salmon Tostadas Recipe

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Grilled Baja Fish Torta

baja fish torta, swordfish sandwich
Grilled Baja Fish Torta

Grilled Fresh Swordfish with Grilled Nopalitos, Pineapple, and Avocado
Caper Cumin Aioli, Pickled Jalapeño, Cilantro
On a Bolillo (Crusty Mexican Oval-Shaped Roll)

Baja California Dreaming…years ago we would take road trips down to Mexico. Fishing was a must. So, naturally, were fish tacos. But our fish didn’t always end up in a tortilla with cabbage, salsa, crema, and a squeeze of lime – sometimes we enjoyed it on a special oval-shaped roll that was crusty outside with a dense yet soft interior. Serving grilled nopalitos recently made me nostalgic for Baja, the fresh-caught fish, and the endless cacti along Highway 1. Baja is home to more varieties of cactus, perhaps than anywhere else in the world, with many exclusive to the peninsula.

A torta can be filled with many things from meat, to eggs, to beans and vegetables, but the true signature of a torta is that it is FILLED! My grilled nopalitos with caper cumin aioli were a big hit, so here I incorporate those ingredients into a sandwich adding various flavors from my memories of Baja.

Fresh local fish of course, plus avocado, pineapple, jalapeño, cilantro, lime – and nopalitos on a bolillo, do indeed satisfy my nostalgia for Baja California…And since we were camping back then, the ingredients for this torta were grilled over an open fire.

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