Shaken fish with tomato salsa & corn salad

Yes…….. Another Sophia Easter special from the MasterChef Magazine Issue 11 and no, once again we couldn’t wait for Easter. This one, however, will reappear for the Easter bunny. This is a must for  the Easter seafood menu.

“SHAKEN”, you say. What the?………I, like you, had a second take on this one. The very thought of a shaking fish brought all sorts of vision on board. “Read on” I said to myself and there it was. “A Mexican Lenten dish that gets its name from the way the fish is cooked and turned (or shaken) in a wire fish cage over a charcoal barbecue.”

CONFESSION:  No fish cage or charcoal barbeque? No whole fish (Snapper) but a large Snapper fillet. Not a worry. Be adventurous and creative. Sometimes we can be, by adapting available utensils and/or ingredients. In this case I had a large pan and an oven at my disposal so instead of putting the fish in the wire cage, I placed the fish fillet, spread with mixture, skin side down in the hot pan for 2 minutes and spread the upper side with the remaining mixture. After turning the fillet, put the pan in a 170C oven to finish off for a further 10 minutes………….. absolutely scrumptious!!!!!!

FISH Ingredients

150g (1/2 cup) whole egg mayonnaise

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tbls chipotle chillies in adobo* finely chopped

2 x 600g whole snappers cleaned and butterflied*

Lime cheeks to serve

 SALSA & SALAD Ingredients

2 cobs corn husks removed

1 onion halved

3 roma tomatoes

6 cloves garlic peeled

2 avocados cut into 1cm pieces

1 jalapeno* seeded, finely chopped

¼ cup coriander leaves, chopped

3 limes juiced

To make salsa and salad, preheat barbecue or grill plate. Add corn cobs and cook, turning occasionally. Add onion, tomatoes and garlic and cook, turning as well until everything is charred and tender. Cool.

To finish corn salad, holding cobs upright, cut kernels away from cobs and place in bowl with avocados, jalapeno, coriander and one third of the lime juice. Season with salt and toss gently to combine.

To finish salsa, thinly slice onion and place in a bowl. Finely chop garlic, roughly chop tomatoes and add to bowl with remaining lime juice. Season with salt and toss gently to combine.

Combine mayonnaise, garlic and chipotle chillies. Spread one third of mayonnaise mixture over the skin side of each fish. Turn over and spread flesh side with remaining mixture. Oil a wire fish cage, place 1 fish inside. Barbecue skin side down for 4 minutes, then turn and cook for a further 4 minutes or until just cooked. Place fish, flesh side up, on a large platter. Repeat with second fish.

Spoon salsa over fish and serve immediately or at room temperature with corn salad and lime cheeks

Tips:

*Chipotle chillies in adobo are sold in cans from selected delis. Substitute 2 seeded finely chopped red bird’s-eye chillies and a pinch of smoked paprika.

*Jalapenos are a type of chilli available from most supermarkets

*Ask your fishmonger to butterfly the fish, removing the bones and keeping the tails intact.

Enjoy M & B x