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EG and I decided to kick off our New Year festivities with a home cooked meal and a bottle of vintage Mumm. What better way to say farewell to what has been an absolutely amazing year.

We started off with a trip to the Vic Market for some supplies. Unfortunately we arrived rather late - so our initial choice of a whole baked fish had to be replaced with a couple of fillets of wild barramundi. We then hit the organic fruit/veg stall for some wonderful produce. A quick snack of a parsley and cheese borek and a doughnut satisfied the lunch rumbles, then on to the bread purveyor - oh no, all run out! Think think…a quick trip to Melbourne Central and a Bakers Delight Pane di Casa did the trick.

Now back to EGs place for some tag team cooking. EG was in charge of the fish. I was in charge of the salad.

The recipe for the fish was inspired by the Jamie Oliver technique of chucking everything into a foil bag and bunging it in the oven. This bakes and steams the meat, ensuring it remains tender and moist. But more importantly - the wonderful flavour stays locked in.

The recipe for the salad was inspired by what looked good at the market. Red Otway baby potatoes, green beans, avocado and lemons.

EG’s Baked Wild Barramundi with Lemon, Fennel & Herbs
700g Barramundi Fillets (2 x 350g ish)
1 Red Onion, sliced thinly
1 Bulb of Fennel, sliced thinly
1 Medium Lemon, sliced thinly
Juice of 2 Lemons
2-3 big handfuls Herbage of choice (in this case marjoram, parsley, basil, fennel tops, bay)
Good extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt flakes and cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Prepare foil bag by joining two pieces of foil on the long edge and folding over a 1cm hem twice. One side will be the base, the other side the top (when folded over). Place the foil bag on a baking tray for stability.

On the base foil place a trivet of sliced onions, fennel, half the lemon slices and half the herbs. Lay the fish on top of the vegetables/herbs, season with sea salt and cracked black pepper, and then lay the remaining lemon slices and herbs on top. Pour on the lemon juice and then drizzle generously with olive oil.

Place the top foil over the fish and seal all edges to make an airtight bag.

Cook for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let settle for a few minutes before piercing the bag and allowing the steam to escape (be careful). Serve on a platter.

The accompanying salad
This is just a quick throw together salad of boiled organic red otway chats, blanched green beans and sliced avocado dressed in lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt and cracked black pepper. Quantities are not crucial - just make enough veg to satisfy, and then perhaps a 2:1 lemon to oil dressing. Season well.

The verdict
Seriously, this fish dish absolutely rocked. The barra was meltingly tender and sweet, the fennel and onion had cooked down and infused with the herby fishy lemony juices. Soaking this up with a hunk of bread was totally satisfying. And the lemon dressing on the salad partnered superbly well with the fish. An absolute winner of a dish that will surely be made again and again. EG - you are a wonderful chef!

The Mumm - well that was just friggin amazing as well. You can’t beat those French bubbles.

Written by mellie on January 1st, 2007 | Tags: fish, recipes | Category: Uncategorized |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL