Brown Butter Sea Bass with Tangerine Dipping Sauce and Lots of Herbs
I got three branzinos from Whole Foods to roast for this dish. The idea was to roast the fish basted in a browed citrus butter, then to sever the fish in family style where guests can grab chunks of fish and wrap them up in a piece of lettuce like a taco. Some herbs and a refreshing citrus dipping sauce are served to go with the fish filling. People liked this more than I thought they would; the lettuce wrapper was less fussy than I expected.
Joe’s Rating: 6.5
Difficulty: 4.5

Cheesy Polenta with Curried Onions
This was an attractive starch to pair with the fish and spring vegetables. The resulting dish was very rich and delicious; the combination of Gruyere and miso worked really well; however, I believe it would be better suited to a cold-weather dinner. The only cooking note I have is to make sure you follow the instructions on your polenta to get the right consistency, rather than the ones in the cookbook (which I found was way too runny for my polenta.)
Joe’s Rating: 7
Difficulty: 4.5