The Mosquito's Fish Tagine

This was from a little restaurant in Sydney that speciallised in Moroccon cuisine, the Mosquito Bar.  I obtained it from a SMH Good Weekend Magazine.   The chief was Hassan M'souli, who originally came from Casablanca, but trained in Paris.  I notice SBS.com.au has a lot of his recipies online.  

Use a fish that is quite firm such as sordfish.  Begin this recipie 3 hours before you need to serve. (you need to marinate the fish) Cook in a tagine, or baking dish, but make sure it is covered tightly so that it does not dry out.  Serve it with couscous, and the carrot salad (recipie at the end).  You can also top with fresh coriander leaves.

You can also make this recipie using a whole snapper and the Chermoula.  Just make large slits in the snapper to make sure it cooks well.

Fish Tagine

Rating: Moderate

Ingredients:

4 fish steaks (blue eye cod, sordfish, kingfish)

Chermoula
4tbls olive oil
1 small chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, grated
1 tsp. cummin  powder
1 tsp papika
pinch safron
1/4 tsp salt
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 bunch coriander, chopped

Sauce
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup white wine
2 small red onions, sliced into rings
2 small ripe tomatoes, sliced
1 green capsicum, sliced into rings.
1 large potatoe, peeled, sliced thinly and parboiled.
1 preserved lemon, flesh removed and skin cut into quarters
12 kalamata olives (pip removed)

 

Method

Par-boil the potatoes, and set aside
Mix the chermoula ingredients together and coat the fix steaks for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 220C.
In a baking dish or tagine put the celery and white wine.  Place fish steaks on the top.  Add onion rings, tomatoes, potatoes on the top. Add preserved lemon and scatter olives.
Cover tightly and cook for 10 minutes.
Turn down over to 150C and cook for another 35 minutes.

Serve with couscous and a carrot salad.

To make the salad, grate carrots, pour fresh orange juice over them, add a little sugar and put into a bowl with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top.

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