Note: Even though this blog post does pertain to nutrition, its not our regular science post. Oh forgive us, it's the holidays and we're allowed to have non-science indiscretions.
It is 4 in the morning and I just made myself some fish. I ate all of it so now no one else can taste the fish I made and tell me how wonderful it was. But it was. It was absolutely wonderful.
The original recipe is from the book Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. It is not a recipe book, even though it contains this recipe. I changed it a bit, but it still works.
Here’s what you do:
1. Turn your oven on. You want it to be “very hot” for the fish. I wasn’t sure what that meant so I turned the oven knob more than 180 degrees, but less than 270 degrees. The temperature was around 225 C I think.
2. Take a fish fillet and pat it dry with a tea towel. I didn’t do that. I stole a fish fillet my mother was going to serve us for dinner tomorrow, excuse me, today, and wrapped it in a paper towel while I did everything else. It was not wet to begin with, so the paper didn’t get stuck to the fish. Thankfully.
3. Rub both sides of the fillet with salt and freshly ground black pepper. I actually did grind some peppercorns in a mortar and the result is much tastier than the other kind of black pepper.
4. Stuff the wedge that runs through the centre of your fillet with chopped garlic.
5. Generously squeeze lemon juice on top of the fish. It probably makes more sense to do this before rubbing salt and pepper on the fillet.
6. Generously sprinkle dried thyme on top.
7. Put the fish in an oiled oven proof dish/tray/pan and bake till it looks and tastes done. Mine took about fifteen minutes.
I also cut up a tomato and baked it with the fish. It was a good complement.
I will now watch an episode of The Sopranos and sleep.
Maheen