Recipes for cooking fish and vegetables from Chicago chefs

Welcome to Food We Love, our Sun-Times video series featuring stories about Chicagoans family food traditions, secret recipes, special ingredients and unusual favorite dishes. Each week we’ll hear a new story about food and family and learn some amazing recipes that you can try at home. Our host is Chicago journalist Linda Yu who loves cooking at home, as well as exploring new restaurants throughout the city.

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Today’s episode: Cooking Wild Striped Bass and roasted root vegetables

Join Linda Yu every week for cooking and conversation on Food We Love.

Cooking wild striped bass and roasted vegetables

George Bumbaris had always worked with his hands. He knew he could be an architect, or fix cars, or build houses — he could choose any number of careers. But George liked to eat and thought about how the combination of his Greek heritage and Czech upbringing had led him to love food.

Sarah Stegner was a talented classical guitarist. One day as she was practicing, she thought to herself: Do I want to spend my life practicing 12 hours a day, every day before my concerts? Or would I rather spend 12 hours a day, maybe more, every day, making yummy food?

Opening their own restaurant

Luckily for those of us who have been to Prairie Grass Cafe in Northbrook, both of them chose food. As it happened, Sarah and George each also chose the same cooking school on the North Shore, though George attended a year before Sarah. Both of them were hired by the Ritz-Carlton Chicago Hotel. Both thought they would be at the Ritz for a few years, but their stays turned into decades as they brought fame and awards to the Ritz-Carlton dining room.

As they worked together and learned to trust each other’s taste and creativity, the idea of opening their own restaurant began to germinate. It grew and eventually turned into the Prairie Grass Cafe. Their decades of experience at the Ritz had reinforced lessons each learned from their own families.

Sarah Stegner and George Bumbaris in 2007. | Clifton Henri For the Sun-Times

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Seasoning a chicken dish in 2006. | Joel Lerner Sun-Times

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Chef George Bumbaris in 1992 at the Ritz-Carton. | Sun-Times Archives

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Sarah Stegner with a caviar and lobster dish in 2006. | Jim Frost Sun-Times

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George Bumbaris at the Ritz Carlton in 2004. | Jon Sall Sun-Times

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Chef Sarah Stegner looking over a tray of newly delivered morel mushrooms. |Ellen Domke Sun-Times

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Sarah and George in 2009 in the Prairie Grass Cafe kitchen. Jason Han Sun-Times

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George went to Greece in the summers to visit relatives. There, he saw that plentiful, freshly caught seafood dominated the menus. Sarah’s mother and grandmother were both great cooks and they taught her to use vegetables that were in season, preferably grown locally so they would be as fresh as possible. It was time to take that major leap, save money, raise support, design a restaurant, and hire their own staff. Prairie Grass Cafe was born.

A spectacular summer dish

Sarah and George taught me how to make a dinner that’s true to their best collaboration: wild striped bass and seasonal root vegetables. Sarah is so passionate about supporting local farmers that she helped put together the group of chefs who started Chicago’s Green City Market.

George shows us the very fast, perfect way to cook fish, while Sarah whips up roasted carrots, celery root, beets and parsnips. I’ve never cooked parsnips so I asked Sarah what to do when you’re faced with a vegetable you’ve never cooked or tasted before. You can find out what she and George taught me, and their yummy recipes on The Chicago Sun-Times website.

Striped sea bass before it’s seasoned with salt and pepper. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

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Cubed carrots, celery root, beets & parsnips. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

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Roasted garlic is used in the vinaigrette dressing. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

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Ingredients for the Wild Striped Bass and Roasted Root Vegetable recipes. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

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Crushed pecans.| Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

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Sara Stegner and George Bumbaris’ Striped Wild bass & Roasted Veggies. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

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Wild Striped Bass

Ingredients

4 5-6 ounce portions of wild bass
Sea salt
Ground white pepper
2 tbsps. olive oil

Directions

Season the fish on both sides with salt and pepper to taste.
Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat until enough for browning fish.
Carefully place fish in pan, brown on both sides. Depending on the thickness of the fish it should take 5-8 minutes to cook.

Roasted Garlic Cider Vinaigrette

Ingredients

1 head roasted garlic
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. local honey
Sea salt, pinch
2 tbsps. olive oil

Directions

Wrap garlic head in aluminum foil with olive oil and salt. Roast in oven at 375 degree for 35 minutes.

Squeeze the roasted garlic into a bowl removing any skin. Add the remaining ingredients and mix together with a whisk. Set aside.

Roasted root vegetables

Ingredients

1/2 cup carrots, celery root, beets, parsnips, peel and cut into large dices
Sea salt, pinch
Black pepper, freshly ground
2 tbsps. olive oil
Pecans, toasted
Petite greens, garnish

Directions

Toss all the ingredients in a bowl. Spread on a single layer baking sheet, cook in the oven at 400 degrees until tender approximately 25-30 minutes. Stir occasionally, allowing to brown.

Arrange vegetables on a plate. Place fish atop vegetables.

Garnish

Ingredients

Pecans, toasted
Petite greens

Directions

Toast fresh pecans on baking sheet in oven at 375 degrees until lightly browned.

Sprinkle toasted pecans over plated veggies and fish. Add petite greens as a garnish. Pour a generous amount of vinaigrette over completed dish.

Chefs’ note: We recommend the petite greens and the pecans from Three Sister Garden at Green City Market. Many of the root vegetables can be found at GCM as well. The honey used is from Ellis Farm. Enjoy!

Wild Striped Bass and Roasted Root Vegetables. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Watch more “Food We Love” episodes

We hope you’ve enjoyed this segment of “Food We Love with Linda Yu.” Check the links below to watch Linda’s other #foodwelove videos. Each one has a great story plus recipes for you to try at home. You can also follow Linda on social media to get the latest on her CST series.