When it comes to cooking fish, I'll avoid deep-frying as much as I can. This doesn’t mean I don’t fancy eating fish prepared this way, I do. I just don’t like doing the deep-frying myself. Reason? I hate cleaning up greasy surfaces - from the stovetop to kitchen top, sticky floor included. Also, the smell of oil will linger before it’s completely gone. The obvious thing about deep-frying fish is - one could immediately tell that fish is on the menu, the moment one walks in the door.
So, I am all for cooking fish the easy way, without breaking a sweat! Love it even more when the prep work is kept to a minimum and the oven does all the hard work. And then, it’s time to dig in!
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Preheat the oven before popping anything in to cook; I set mine at 200°C for 10 minutes. Did I mention I love easy clean-up too? Yes, very much so. It’s a definite must to line the baking tray with baking paper.
Vegetables
Slice shallots thinly. Spread onto the centre of the tray.
Cut potato into wedges, carrot into sticks and brown button mushrooms into quarters.
Drizzle some olive oil, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle in some dried Italian herbs.
Give everything a good toss and arrange them beautifully onto the tray.
You can use any vegetables of your choice, just cut them about the same size to ensure even cooking.
Fish
Make deep slits on both sides of the fish (I am using seabass).
Stuff sliced ginger into each slit.
In the fish cavity, stuff in sliced garlic and ginger.
Rub with salt and pepper and a generous amount of homemade spice blend (see note).
Place the fish on top of the sliced shallots.
In a bowl, combine olive oil, sesame oil and teriyaki sauce. Pour onto the fish.
Put the tray into the oven and cook for 30 minutes (cooking time varies, depending on the size of fish used).
Broccoli
(to amp up my vegetable intake)
While the fish and vegetables are cooking in the oven, trim and cut broccoli into florets.
Place into a microwave-safe bowl, add a few drops of water and microwave for 1.5 minutes with the lid on.
Carefully remove the lid and add a dash of olive oil and light soy sauce.
Note:
The homemade spice blend mentioned above was a gift and I can’t recall exactly now, what the compositions were and the proportion of each. From what I can remember, the mix includes (but not limited to) cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin and dried chillies.
Simply add the spices (whole) to a dry pan and toast them for a few minutes over low to medium heat. They are ready when it’s aromatic and fragrant. Remove from heat and leave to cool. Grind, either into coarse or fine powder based on individual preference.
For convenience, just swap with regular chilli powder / curry powder / paprika. If you wish, you can leave it out completely.
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I cook the broccoli towards the last few remaining minutes, when the fish and vegetables are about done. I want to serve everything together, while they are still hot and sizzling.
The fish has a nice balance of flavour - just the right amount of heat from the spice blend, sweet and salty from the teriyaki sauce and a slight hint of nuttiness from the sesame oil.
Feel free to try this out and give it your own twist. Share with me in the comments below, how you make your version of baked fish.