Mediterranean Baked Branzino

So last night I went to a fun fun girl's night at my friend's house. There were 7 of us and the theme was Mediterranean, we each brought various yummy delights - hummus, baklava, dolmades, watermelon and feta salad, herbed rack of lamb etc etc. I decided to venture out of my comfort zone and try something I love to eat (whole fish) but had only tried cooking once before about 7 years ago (turned out OK from recollection!). This dish wasn't my dish choice when I was thinking of my pot luck contribution, but boy am I glad I made it, it was so delicious and I would love to share it with you.

So here's the backstory.  I headed to my local fancy schmancy supermarket that sells great product, fresh baked bread and really fantastic meats and seafood. When I arrived there I had originally intended to make a marinated Octopus salad but I was super disappointed to find that the only octopus and squid they sold was frozen. It was 1:30pm and I had to be at my friend's house at 6:30pm.  Being Australian, I have been spoilt with always fresh-never frozen seafood and buying the product frozen in a package made me incredibly nervous! I put it in my cart, started to walk away and all kinds of thoughts crossed my mind What if I can't thaw this out in time? Will I screw up this dish and force everyone to eat rubber? Am I making life harder for myself with this dish? I went with my gut instinct (excuse the pun!) and put the packet back in the freezer case. 

While I waited for service, I thought to myself When I think of the Mediterranean, what dishes do I think of? My first thought was whole fish-lemons-olive oil. Turns out I had two choices that day for whole fish: red snapper or branzino.  Branzino!!! How could I pass this up? Well, if you don't know, Branzino is a European Bass with a delicate white flaky flesh, lots of bones and fairly small but is absolutely synonymous with Mediterranean or Italian food.

The fishmonger was nice enough to remove the gills and guts and I had the option to have the heads removed but opted to keep them and the tails for a prettier presentation (isn't it odd that a dead animal's head on a plate makes the dish look stunning!?! Crazy!)

So here's how I prepared it (super easy and very delicious)

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 32 mins

Oven Temp: 325F

Serves: (1 fish per person as a main meal or 1 fish for 2-3 people as a shared appetizer) Roughly .5-1lb per fish

Ingredients:

1-2 Branzini (about .8lb per fish)

Herbs - flat leaf parsley, dill and fresh oregano

Lemons

Olive Oil

1-2 cloves garlic thinly sliced

1 Shallot thinly sliced

Salt

Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 325F

2. To a baking sheet or oven proof dish, drizzle a  tsp of olive oil and lay the fish presentation side up.

3. Cut three slits to the presentation side of the fish

4. Season the entire fish with salt and pepper. Don't forget the cavity of the fish.

5. Fill the cavity of the fish with lemon slices, the sliced garlic, shallots and whole springs of dill, flat leaf parsley and oregano. Reserve a few garlic slices for the slits and insert the slices in the slits.

6. Season again with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and top with a few thin slices of lemon. 

7. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the fish and bake uncovered for about 32 minutes.

8. Allow the fish to rest for a few minutes but do serve as soon as possible.

9. After resting, transfer the fish carefully to a serving platter.  Garnish with more lemon slices and wedges, a drizzle of olive oil and chopped flat leaf parsley, dill and fresh oregano. Sprinkle sea salt and serve with a light salad of dressed greens with shaved fennel and red onion.

**Note: be careful, this fish (albeit delicious) has lots of little bones.  Be very careful if you are feeding this fish to children, though I probably would not recommend it.

What's for dinner tonight?

Ginger flank steak fried rice!

Buy the best beef you can afford. Slice very, very thin:

Marinate for an hour in sesame oil, soy sauce, freshly grated ginger, 4 cloves of garlic sliced, hoisin sauce, honey, vegetable oil. Don't add salt until you start stir frying in your wok. Heat wok to high and add some vegetable oil. Stir fry the beef until just cooked.

Remove cooked flank steak and keep in a dish together with the cooking liquid.

In a little more oil, stir fry your favorite vegetables. I used, broccoli, red pepper, carrots, grated and squeezed zucchini, mushrooms, onions, cabbage, green onion and green beans.  Make sure you cook things like the onions, pepper and carrots before more delicate items that require less cooking time like mushrooms. Once stir-fried, add soy sauce, salt, pepper, a dash of honey and sesame oil. Do not over cook !

When the vegetables are almost cooked, add day old cooked white rice, if the rice is dry, you can heat separately with a sprinkle of water in the microwave for a minute or so to revive it. Stir fry still on a high heat. 

After a few minutes of stir frying, reintroduce all the cooked flank steak (it should look a little ground or chopped beef and be very tender) and all if its juices and liquid. Stir fry for a few more minutes before adding anything that requires off-heat last minute cooking such as toasted peanuts, chopped cilantro, free onions or sesame seeds.

Vanilla Custard Pots for Toddlers

An easy little dessert for your toddler and the good news is it takes no time at all and your child will love helping you in the kitchen!

The only adjustments I made to the above recipe was that I used a little more sugar.  Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a small jug, mix the egg and the sugar together, then add the vanilla extract.  This is a great opportunity to have your children involved. My daughter excitedly broke the egg and helped me stir the sugar in. She loved it!

The recipe calls for bringing the 2/3 cup of milk to a near boil on the stove but that was too much work for me, so I poured the milk into another jug and microwaved it in increments to make sure it didn't boil.  In all, I think it took less than 2 minutes.

Very carefully, slowly pour the milk into the egg mixture while stirring rapidly so the eggs won't curdle.

Place 2 or 3 small ramekins into a deep oven tray and strain the custard into them to lose any lumps.  Carefully pour enough boiling water into the oven tray until the water comes halfway up to the ramekins. Make sure no water splashes in the custards or it will compromise the texture.

Place the tray in the oven and cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until the custards are set.