Blood Orange Sauce

• 1 cup fresh squeezed blood orange juice, (about 3 medium blood oranges)
• pinch of ground saffron
• 1 lime, zested & juiced
• 1 scallion, whites, greens & stems roughly chopped
• salt for seasoning
• 6 tbsp sweet, unsalted butter, cut into 1 tbsp-sized pieces

Sea Bass

• four 6-oz pieces of Chilean sea bass
• 1 cup shelled pistachios
• 1 tsp garlic, chopped

Fennel Salad

• 1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced
• 12 Kalamata olives, pitted & halved
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
• salt for seasoning

Special Equipment

• food processor
• fish spatula
• medium sauté pan
• fine mesh strainer

1. Preheat oven to 450º
2. Bring all sauce ingredients except butter to a boil in small saucepan. Turn off heat and allow to steep 30 minutes
3. Grind pistachios with garlic in food processor and transfer to bowl or plate
4. Season both sides of fish with salt. Drizzle both sides with olive oil. Press top of fish into ground pistachios. Place crust-side down in a cold, olive-oil coated, medium sauté pan
5. Place pan in oven, and cook 3-5 minutes on first side
6. While fish is cooking, toss together fennel salad ingredients
7. Flip fish delicately with fish spatula and dust top side with more pistachios, return to oven for 3-5 additional minutes
8. Strain sauce over fine mesh strainer into small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Allow sauce to reduce by half, about 10 minutes
9. Slowly whisk cold butter pieces into sauce over medium heat, taking care not to overheat sauce while whisking in butter to avoid sauce from breaking
10. Remove fish from oven. For plating, spoon sauce on bottom of plate, and rest fish on top. Serve fennel salad on side