Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Recipe of the week # 7 - Roast Sea Bass with Capers and Lemon


As I've mentioned before, we've been having a lot of fish recently as the fishmonger is only a few steps away. Everytime I walk past, I stare through the window and watch the glassy eyes staring back at me as I contemplate which fish to try next. Fish is so summery, it reminds me of Italian holidays where we'd watch my Uncle's brother from the beach as he'd catch grey mullet from the pier and eat his catches that same day, and Thailand where delicious big red snappers were grilled on an open barbecue.

This recipe by Giorgio Locatelli is one of the best fish dishes I've ever had. It's so fragrant with the amazing flavours of bay leaf and lemon accompanied by capers.

I couldn't stand the site of capers until recently, but now I love them. I didn't mind them in salsa tonnata (tuna sauce usually an accompaniment to veal) where they're whizzed up into a sauce and you can't see them, but these little green things on their own made me feel rather queasy. I tried them again recently in a Puttanesca Sauce and now I love them.

I was dying to try sea bass after seeing Gordon Ramsey hold one aloft on The F-Word, declaring it a delicacy, extraordinary, robust and delicate. I wasn't disappointed, it really was all of those things.

15 comments:

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Just about my favourite fish, done wonderfully it looks like. Dont fear the Caper! Trouble with capers is you never get through a tub of them. (Mrs Weasel, or the little weasels will not touch them)

I shall do this one. Thanks.

Strange as it may seem I don't have a very reliable source of fresh fish up here. My local chap can be a bit iffy and fish needs to be so fresh. It is often a feature of London life that competition is so intense that small shopkeepers have to be good to stay alive.

Still, I can always go and catch mackerel near Bass Rock if the fancy takes me.

I am thinking aloud...mmmm better go!

Wuching said...

mate that fish looks really good! its that the one cook?

a.c.t. said...

Mr Weasel, I have a jar of capers sitting in the fridge at the moment which probably won't get used for ages - I don't fancy eating a big spoonful of them on their own! The fish from our fishmonger seems to be fresh but there is an unhealthy stink that comes from there when it's closed.
Wuchung, huh?

Wuching said...

i mean the pic of the fish looks really good, its that the one u cooked?

a.c.t. said...

Hehe, I wish my photography skills were that good. If you click on the recipe link, you'll see that it's the photo from there. Ours did look like that though. Honest!

Susan in Italy said...

Any fish with capers and lemon sounds delicious to me! And the fish here in Italy (especially in Milan where apparently they haul much of the catch to then distribute to other parts of the country) is fabulous - better than in France;)

Martha Elaine Belden said...

This looks fantastic! You never fail to make me really really hungry.

If you like salmon, I have a great (and really easy) recipe with a lemon cream sauce and capers. It's my favorite!

Although, this might jump ahead of that if/when I get a chance to try it.

* (asterisk) said...

I like Giorgio. Wife and I have eaten at his place a couple of times, and both times he has come out into the restaurant and chatted to the diners. Diamond geezer, making good food (albeit at a price!).

Comment 16 of 20

Alfonso Cevola said...

looks great!
we're trying it this weekend

thanks

Alfonso

a.c.t. said...

Martha, give me the recipe, sounds great.
* I haven't been to Locatelli's yet but I'd love to. I tried to once when my company were paying for a meal and it was fully booked for 3 months!
Alfonso, great! Let me know how it goes.

galatea said...

Mm, seabass good. The thing I used to hate about capers is that they pop disconcertingly in your mouth. I couldn't help thinking of acne whenever that happened.

Red said...

Ciao, cara, hai visto questo? (Un po' off topic...)

RINGHIO CONTRO GHIGNO
"Gattuso ha detto che la vittoria degli azzurri è stata ispirata dal desiderio di dimostrare che il calcio italiano non è solo squallore e corruzione, e ha chiesto che le squadre coinvolte nello scandalo siano punite. I suoi dirigenti al Milan, la squadra di proprietà di Silvio Berlusconi, saranno rimasti sconvolti: sono settimane che l'ex presidente del consiglio e i suoi alleati lavorano dietro le quinte per proporre un'amnistia. Ma i tifosi sono con Gattuso".

BTW, that sea bass looks yummy!

a.c.t. said...

Galatea, that's revolting! You've put me off capers again, all that hard work has been undone at one fell swoop.
Ciao Rossa, che roba! Good old Rino, you can tell he's the cleanest one out of the lot. We should find out tomorrow what their fate will be. I will be sad if Milan go down, but at the same time it might teach them a lesson

Spangly Princess said...

Galatea, even as a lifelong caper lover that's so gross it's given me pause for thought.

Rino is such a star, there's been lots of footage of his Calabrai paesino and the enormous 3-day festa they've been organising for him. he's such a cutie. Refused to speak out on the Materazzi-Zidane stuff when asked, saying 'my village has organised a beautiful party in my honour I don't want to tarnish it by getting into a slanging match.' bless him.

galatea said...

Oh dear, I'm sorry. A curse on my overactive imagination!