A recipe to love…

Sautéed bream fillet with rocket salad, roasted calamari and basil pesto sauce… (Really, you have to try it!)

by Kyriakos Pasvantoglou, Chef of  San Antonio Hotel:

 

Kyriakos Pasvantoglou, Chef of San Antonio Hotel in Santorini, was kind enough to let us take a peek inside his kitchen and share with us one of his delicious recipes. It was a wonderful experience, to be able to watch the Chef and his team working like magicians, so fast, so concentrated, so accurate…

Yes, we did try the bream recipe, and it was excellent : )

I asked myself what makes a recipe that good. After a conversation with Kyriakos, I think I have an answer to this question…

The visionary Chef, who is originated from Thessaloniki, grew up watching his grandparents from Asia Minor cook; that kind of inspiration was the starting point for a strong culinary identity, now focused on contemporary gastronomy which often reveals his experience in the French cuisine.

With that kind of background, Kyriakos Pasvantoglou is innovative enough to bring out the flavors of the pure aegean products and create new plates that highlight the true character of the island.

 

 

Sautéed bream fillet with rocket salad, roasted calamari and basil pesto sauce | Τhe Recipe

 

Ingredients for a recipe

For the bream and rocket salad:

• 1 bream
• half of a calamari
• a small cup of baby rocket
• olive oil
• the juice of one small lemon
• salt-pepper

For the basil pesto sauce:

• 1 cup of fresh basil
• 100 gr. of pine nuts, lightly toasted
• 2 small gloves of garlic
• 150 gr.  olive oil

For the cuttlefish ink potato chip:

• 2 potatos
• 1 spoon of cuttlefish ink
• salt-pepper

 

Clean and fillet the bream. Remove all the bones. Slightly carve the skin of the fish without removing it. Add salt and pepper. Place half the fish, skin-side down first, in a hot pan and sauté from both sides till it turns light golden in color. Then put it in the oven for 5 minutes.

Blanche the basil and put it in cold water. Dry well and put it in a blender, with the pine nuts and with the garlic, finely chopped. Blend and slowly add olive oil, until a paste forms.

Clean and cut the body of the calamari into thin, narrow strips. Sauté in a hot pan and add the lemon juice. Put it in a bowl; add the rocket and the pesto sauce. Sprinkle with olive oil and mix slightly the ingredients.

Boil and puree the potatos; Add salt, pepper, the cuttlefish ink and mix them into the puree. Spread a thin layer of the puree on a silicon tray and bake at 140 ^o C, until it becomes a very thin chip.

Place the bream fillet and the rocket salad in a plate, and then decorate with the baked chip.

 

Enjoy!

words: maria alipranti

©  photos by c. drazos