I've been busy with developing ideas and plans for my own company centred around food and nutrition - watch this space!
This past weekend included amazing things like the wonderful Durban autumn weather and food markets!
Amongst some interesting items, the most memorable at the Hellenic Centre (Durban North), was the traditional Greek table that was manned by a band of Greek women who knew what there were doing. After purchasing peri-peri hummus (sounds unusual but the peri-peri concoction had a delightful mix of chilli, ginger and garlic!) we found a small stall that had almond Dukkah. We grabbed some fresh Barracuda at our favourite new fresh fish warehouse en the way home and our dinner idea was born!
Enter,
Fresh Linefish grilled in almond dukkah with baby spinach, rocket, watercress and green beans!
On second thought I should probably shorten my title, but now you know what is in it! Captain Obvious, I dare say...
Ingredients
Makes 2
- 2 fillets of fresh Linefish - try go for a meatier fish so I would suggest avoiding types like Red Roman and Sole. The size of fillet is your preference.
- Mixed Greens - we used baby spinach, rocket and watercress with French beans.
- Dukkah spices with chopped roasted almonds (our mix was already done when we bought it. To make it yourself merely roast the raw almonds on a baking tray at 110'C for about 10 minutes a so - you need to watch these carefully so as not to burn! When they are caramel in colour they're done.
- Greek Yoghurt
- Oil of your choice for grilling the fish - we used 1/2 teaspoon of organic coconut which married beautifully with the aroma of the spices! Avoid using olive oil as the oleic acid (what we like about olive oil) breaks down in high temperatures.
Method
- Prep your fish fillets by coating them in your dukkah and almond mix.
- Heat a frying pan and place in a bit of oil so as to prevent the dukkah sticking to the pan.
- Place the coated fish fillets into the pan and turn down the heat to medium. You want to slowly cook the fish so as not to burn the spices and prevent it from drying out. Ours were big chunks of meat so they were cooked on three sides (which seemed to do the trick). I like to place the lid on a bit so that the steam released from the fish keeps the fish from drying out too much when cooking.
- Whilst the fish cooks, rinse your greens and slice your fresh beans to your preferred sized and place onto your plates.
- In a separate bowl, pour an adequate quantity of Greek yoghurt inside and mix it with the almond dukkah spices. We used it as a "dressing" with the fish. You want the yoghurt dressing to accompany the fish, not overpower it in flavour so opt for a bit less of the spice than too much.
- You'll know your fish is cooked when you can push a sharp knife through the thickest part of the fish without having to use much force.
- Place fish onto plate, drizzle greens with a good quality olive oil and enjoy!
Tips to remember when cooking fish: Fortunately you cannot get salmonella like from chicken nor an upset stomach from undercooked beef. Fresh fish becomes incredibly tough and can loose a lot of its flavour when over-cooked. Rather keep it on a lower heat with the lid on (but slightly ajar) than try cook it quickly on a high heat.