Steamed Sea Bass with Vegetables

Name: Steamed Sea Bass with Vegetables
Prep time: 90 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 110 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: Sea bass (sea bass) gutted 3; Carrots 1.4 cups; Green beans 1 ¼ cup; Zucchini 1 ¼ cup; Potatoes 5.6 oz; Black olives pitted 20; Dill 20 sprigs; Fine salt to taste; Black pepper to taste; Water 4 ¼ cups; Dry white wine 3 ½ tbsp; Ground black pepper 6; Fresh scallion small 2; Leeks ½; Butter 5 ½ tbsp; Basil 5 leaves; Fine salt to taste

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Difficulty: Average
Prep time: 1 h 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Serving: 4
Cost: High

PRESENTATION

Branzino al vapore con verdure is, I gotta say, a fantastic example of how Italian cuisine takes simple dishes to the next level. People often think steamed fish is bland, but this steamed sea bass? It’ll totally surprise you. The secret? It’s all about the steam bath. Instead of plain water, the fish and veggies get a flavorful soak with wine, black peppercorns, scallions, and leek. The result? A subtle aroma that’s really hard to resist.

This sea bass with vegetables turns out so moist and tender that it practically falls apart. And look, with colorful carrots, black olives, and dill arranged on top, it looks as good as it tastes. Imagine yourself on the Ligurian coast, where every meal is a feast for the eyes and the palate—pretty dreamy, right?

So here's the thing, this healthy fish recipe skips heavy sauces and excessive spices, focusing on a fresh basil and scallion sauce instead. It’s a simple touch, but it completely transforms the dish. You'll taste the fresh flavors right away, and the veggies? They keep their crisp texture because they’re steamed—not boiled. This dish keeps it light, so you won’t feel weighed down.

Italians love it when they want something special but still healthy—ideal for a quick fish dinner or impressing guests without too much effort. Even people who usually avoid fish find this one unique: it’s clean-tasting, the fish is flaky, and the wine and herbs make a big difference. If you're after easy seafood dishes that capture the heart of summer, or exploring low-calorie meals that feel indulgent, this is a must-try. You might, seriously, rethink how you feel about steamed fish. And the sauce? Really really good.

INGREDIENTS

Ingredients for 20 small sea bass medallions: Sea bass (sea bass) 3 - gutted; Carrots 1.4 cups (170 g); Green beans 1 ¼ cup (160 g); Zucchini 1 ¼ cup (160 g); Potatoes 5.6 oz (160 g); Black olives 20 - pitted; Dill 20 sprigs; Fine salt to taste; Black pepper to taste

For steaming: Water 4 ¼ cups (1 l); Dry white wine 3 ½ tbsp (50 ml); Ground black pepper 6; Fresh scallion 2 - small; Leeks ½

For the basil sauce: Butter 5 ½ tbsp (80 g); Basil 5 leaves; Fine salt to taste

Preparation

How to prepare Steamed Sea Bass with Vegetables

To prepare steamed sea bass with vegetables, first take care of the water for your steamer. Take a pot, pour in the water, and flavor it with wine and peppercorns 1; clean the spring onions and remove the stems without discarding them 2; also clean the leek, removing the greener part and peeling the outer leaves, cut it in half and add one part to the water along with the spring onions 3. Bring everything to a boil.

In the meantime, prepare the vegetables that will accompany the sea bass: clean 2 carrots, the zucchini, and the potatoes and cut everything into sticks 4, for more details on cutting vegetables click here (How to cut vegetables). Remove the ends of the green beans 5 and place the vegetables in the steamer: first the carrots and potatoes 6, cook for a couple of minutes and

also add the green beans 7 and lastly the zucchini 8, then salt and pepper 9.

Cover with a lid and let cook 10 until the vegetables are soft: it will take about 10 minutes. In the meantime, take care of the fish, take the sea bass already gutted and scaled; if you have an uncleaned sea bass, see the Cooking School card How to clean the sea bream (How to clean sea bream), you should get about 28 oz of cleaned sea bass. Rinse it under running water, then place it on a cutting board, remove the fins, and cut into round sections 11. Remove the central bone from each section, not the skin, and open them well, being careful not to break them 12.

With a special tweezer, remove all the bones present in the flesh, run your fingertip over the fish surface to find them more easily 13. Then take the remaining carrot and with the help of a mandoline, slice it into "ribbons," that is, very thin slices lengthwise 14. Place the slices obtained on each piece of fish 15 that you have previously salted on the surface,

on top of the carrot, place a sprig of dill or chopped parsley 16, fold the ends of the sections towards the center, close the small medallion obtained with a piece of kitchen twine 17 and secure the twine with a double knot. Once all the medallions are obtained, place a pitted black olive in the center of each one 18.

When the vegetables are cooked 19, remove them from the steamer and place the sea bass medallions in their place 20, pepper, and cook for 10 minutes, covering with a lid. In a small saucepan, pour a bit of water, bring to a boil, and blanch the spring onion stems you set aside for a couple of minutes 21.

Once ready, drain and chop them together with the basil 22 and add them to the butter, which you have softened in a double boiler, then with an immersion blender, blend everything until you get a homogeneous sauce (23-24), adjust the salt and remove from the double boiler.

Now that all the ingredients are ready, it's time to assemble the dish: arrange the vegetables on a serving plate (we created a sort of decoration by crossing the vegetable sticks with each other) and place the sea bass medallions next to them 25. Dress the sea bass and vegetables with a drizzle of basil and spring onion sauce 26 and... here is your steamed sea bass with vegetables ready 27!

Storage

You can store the steamed sea bass and vegetables with their seasoning in the refrigerator for no more than one day, in an airtight container.
If the sea bass has not been previously frozen, once ready, you can also freeze it and store it in the freezer for a couple of weeks.

Tip

If you want to go overboard with lightness, you can season the sea bass with just the classic and immortal drizzle of oil. If you go crazy for this recipe to the point of wanting to prepare it every day, but those who eat with you can't take it anymore, know that the same procedure will allow you to propose splendid rolls of sea bream or salmon.

For the translation of some texts, artificial intelligence tools may have been used.