Saturday night and Martha is out at fireworks so the three of us can have fish. I wanted to get bream but could only get Bass at Waitrose. However this recipe from Casa Moro worked a treat.
The moro recipe
Baked bream with potatoes and tomatoes - bream cooked this way is a traditional Spanish Christmas dish. It's easy to make and a treat to eat. The method also works well with cod or hake steaks or filleted sea bass - these take about 15 minutes less to cook, so roast the other ingredients for 15-20 minutes before you cook the fish. Serves four.
2 bream (red, golden or black), each big enough for two (ie around 500g), scaled and gutted
Sea salt and black pepper
4 large Cyprus potatoes (about 1kg), sliced into rounds 3mm thick
2 medium red onions, thinly sliced
6 medium sweet tomatoes (or 12-18 cherry tomatoes), sliced into rounds about 5mm thick
2 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste with salt
2 bayleaves (preferably fresh), halved
6 tbsp olive oil
A few parsley stalks
4 slices lemon
half fennel bulb, finely chopped (or half tbsp fennel seeds)
To serve
2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 lemon, quartered
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Season the fish inside and out. Lightly salt the potatoes. Put the onions, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic and bayleaves in a mixing bowl. Pour on half the olive oil, season well and toss together. Stuff the cavity of each fish with parsley stalks, lemon and fennel. Cover the base of a very large, roomy roasting tray with half the onion, potato and tomato mixture. Place the bream on top, then cover with the rest of the vegetables. Drizzle over the remaining oil, and roast in the middle of the oven for 35 minutes, or until cooked. Scatter with parsley and serve with lemon quarters and a salad.
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