Ingredients
This colorful fish dish is healthy, light and nutritious, with an interesting combination of herbs and spices, enhanced by the tahini sauce.
Preparation: 15 minutes – Baking: 30 minutes
Calculate the baking time, based on the 25-30 minutes per kilo of fish rule.
The oven must be pre-heated to the correct temperature.
Prepare the tahini sauce while the fish is baking.
1 whole fresh, Greek aquaculture fish (seabream, seabass, pagrus), 1- 1.2 kg, gutted and scaled
6 tbsp olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves, mashed
2 tsp powdered coriander
1 tsp spicy/hot paprika
½ -1 tsp turmeric
3 medium-sized tomatoes, sliced or 400 gr cherry tomatoes (200 gr halved, 200gr whole)
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 lemon very thinly sliced or one pickled lemon
80 ml water or white wine
Herbs: 2-3 laurel leaves, thyme, oregano, salt & freshly-ground black pepper
For the tahini sauce
Juice from 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, mashed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 – 1.5 tbsp tahini
½ cup (120ml) water
3 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
3 tbsp juice from the baked fish
Method
Pre-heat oven to 200oC.
Prepare the fish with the spices: Place the olive oil, mashed garlic, coriander, paprika, turmeric, salt and pepper in a bowl, stirring everything together.
Rinse and dry the fish. Make 5-6 diagonal indents on each side with a sharp knife. Careful, the indents should not be too deep because they will open more while baking. Use a teaspoon to put olive oil and spice mixture in each indent. Also put some of the mixture inside the fish and pour some onto its surface.
Note: If you are using a pickled lemon (in salty brine), mash 1/3 of the lemon into the sauce with the spices.
In an ovenproof dish layer the sliced tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes), onion and the lemon. Add the herbs (laurel leaves, oregano, thyme), water and the remaining mixture of olive-oil and spices, salt & pepper.
Baking: Place the fish on top of the vegetables and bake in a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.
Make the tahini sauce: In a small pan on medium heat, place all of the sauce’s ingredients apart from the parsley. Stir to combine and create a homogenous texture. Add the chopped parsley and remove from the heat.
Serving: When the fish is cooked, remove 3-4 tbsp from the cooking juice and add it to the tahini sauce. Stir and place in a clean serving bowl. Serve the fish sprinkled with extra herbs. Serve the sauce separately.
