I'm so lazy that I've handed this blog post over to my baby sister! Here's her... Surfing the Silver Spoon:
Marinated sea bream
I should start by saying something
cool like, "As an avid reader of the 'Surfing the Silver Spoon' blog...
but because it's my sisters blog, that goes without saying. But
actually, I do love her blog and I'm always fascinated at the different
recipes that she pulls out of that giant cook book. I was keen but
slightly worried to give it a go myself because I know there are some
weird and wonderful things in there that could either scare me, or open
my eyes to something new and interesting. And so when J asked me if I'd
do a guest blog post for her I jumped at the chance.
We used the 'You pick three, I pick one' approach which
is a theory I use when my husband and I can't make a decision on
something. The first one she picked was lobster but luckily this one was
disregarded because I'm not sure if you can get lobsters at my local
Asda. My three choices were chicory with Prague ham and béchamel sauce;
strawberry ice cream; or marinated sea bream. The ice cream one caught
my eye first but you need an ice cream maker so this one was out. The
chicory recipe sounded yum and I could go in search of the ingredients
in the posher supermarkets around London but that required more effort
and another recipe from the silver spoon for the béchamel sauce so it
all seemed a bit too hard for this lazy cook. Besides, the fish one
looked easy enough and I could buy everything locally. By locally, I
mean at the giant supermarket two minutes from my apartment. Finding
truly 'local' produce in my neighbourhood is a) not something I want to
experience or b) not something that is actually an option.
So sea bream it was or 'Trance did entice marinate' to use the exotic name.
It
seems I may have failed at the first hurdle. I was so proud of my local
supermarket for stocking sea bass and I bought two fillets for Thursday
night - silver spoon night. And then I got home and realised I needed sea
bream, not sea bass. Oh well, it's got the word 'sea' in it. That still
counts right?
Step one was marinating the fish overnight in a
garlic, lemon and herb marinade. Finely chop garlic (I used extra cause
I'm a bit of a garlic freak and put it in everything) fresh thyme, mint,
dried oregano, the juice of three lemons and good quality olive oil.
The recipe called for fresh parsley but I reeeeeeally don't like parsley
(I know J finds this really weird but I just hate it!) so I left it
out. I marinated my fish overnight but it says three hours will do.
Step two, well... cook the fish, that was it. That's
what I loved about this recipe, it was SO easy and simple! I served the
fish with turmeric and sesame sweet potato wedges, garlic aioli and
steamed purple broccoli and asparagus. Simple and very delicious. The
fish was lovely and citrusy and I could really taste the thyme which I
loved. I think B may have found the fish a little too plain but I think
that might be because he was already a bit miffed I'd made sweet potato
wedges and not 'proper' wedges so wasn't in love with dinner at all.
 |
| From left: Ingredients including sea bream... or bass and the finished fish - yum |
All in all, I loved making something I
wouldn't normally make (I never marinate my fish) and it was almost a
new experience having to follow a recipe for such a simple but delicious
dish. I have to apologise about my photos, they're definitely not as
pretty as J's usual pics but I have horrible rental apartment plates and
ugly black benchtops (plus a hideous glass coffee table) which doesn't
make for very beautiful picture. Oh, and it wasn't the prettiest of
dishes to make either. I'm almost a bit relieved there wasn't a picture
in the book to go off because I'm certain it wouldn't have looked like
mine! Thanks for having me J and I hope you'll have me back again soon!
You can find me at http://lifelovetravelfood.blogspot.co.uk in case you're wondering! x
