Sea bass confit with vegetable bake and shellfish sauce

Ingredients for 4 servings:

For the confit: 

• 1 sea bass in steaks, without scales or bones 
• Extra virgin olive oil 
• Salt 
• Peppercorns
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 bay leaves 

For the sauce: 

• 300 ml of fish stock 
• 20 g of cornflour 

For the pastry: 

• Rectangular puff pastry 
• 6 piquillo peppers 
• 1 bunch of fresh asparagus 
• 1 egg

To decorate:

• Fresh parsley 
• Chives 
• Extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

1. To make the sauce, put the fish stock on to heat in a saucepan. In the meantime, dissolve the cornflour in cold water and then add it to the stock. Stir to mix well, cook for 3 minutes and then set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Cut the puff pastry into rectangles, prick them with a fork, leaving a 1 cm edge around the perimeter. Brush some beaten egg over it and bake for 30 minutes.
3. Open the piquillo peppers into halves, sauté the asparagus tips in a little oil and set aside.
4. Make a cut in the garlic cloves and place the sea bass steaks in a frying pan with the garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves and a little salt. Cover the fish with oil and confit it for 10 minutes on a low heat. Remove it from the oil, allow it to drain and set aside.
5. Fry the parsley leaves in plenty of hot oil and then set aside.
6. Chop the chives, fry and then sieve them to make a chive flavoured oil.
7. Place an open pepper on the puff pastry, 4 or 5 asparagus tips and finally the fish. 
8. Serve the pastry with the vegetables and sea bass, and decorate with thin strips of piquillo peppers and crunchy fried parsley. Finish the presentation with a few drops of sauce and the chive oil. This is a luxury dish fit for a king.