Spicy Sephardi Baked Fish with Vegetables

I found this dish in an attractive little collection of Jewish Recipes (called just that) published by Murdoch Books, ISBN 0-86411-914-3.

There are two main strands to Jewish cuisine - Ashkenazi and Sephardi. Ashkenazi refers to Eastern European traditions while Sephardi is food of Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Asian origin. I have come across a similar recipe in Moroccan cuisine.

This dish calls for roasted cumin seeds and it is well worth doing them. They just need a little shaking in a non-stick pan over moderate heat. Watch them and don't let them burn. You will soon see when they are ready. A whole root of coriander weighs in at around 55g.

Baking the fish requires a very high heat so I used a disposable aluminium foil roasting pan.

1 tablespoon cumin seeds
4 cloves garlic
1 small red chilli, roughly chopped
55g fresh coriander leaves, stems and roots, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1.5kg whole fish such as red snapper, cleaned and scaled
450g new potatoes, sliced
2-3 Roma tomatoes, cut in half lengthways then sliced into 1cm pieces
100g green olives, pitted and halved
1/4 cup extra olive oil

Dry-fry the cumin seeds in a frying pan over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until fragrant. Grind seeds to a fine powder in a mortar (1) or spice grinder.

Put the ground cumin, garlic, chilli, coriander, lemon juice and 1 teaspoon salt in a food processor (2) and process to a smooth paste. With the motor running, gradually add the oil.

Using a sharp knife, make 3-4 diagonal incisions through the thickest part on both sides of the fish to ensure even cooking. Rub the spice mixture over the fish (3) cover with plastic wrap and leave to marinate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to very hot 240C (475F). Lay the fish in the center of a large roasting tin and scatter the potato, tomato and olives around the fish (4). Pour 1/4 cup of water and the extra olive oil over the fish and vegetables. Bake, basting often, for 40 minutes or until the fish and vegetables are cooked through (5).

We had it accompanied by peeled zucchini batons and sliced of red pepper briefly microwaved until they were just cooked.

A very tasty dish.

Recipe © Murdoch Books. Pictures Pat Churchill.