I little over a week ago I went through a bit of a slump. You know what I am talking about right? That feeling you get when you just don’t feel like doing anything. I found myself staring at my computer screen, like I was in some kind of twilight zone. Zero brainfunction…
But twitter is an amazing thing – I found out – and as I was complaining about my inadequate ability to be creative online, the friendly team from Ocean Mile offered their condolences to my broken psyche by sending over the biggest, meanest Pemba Bay Kob I have ever seen. To brighten my day you see…
Thanx to them, I found light when there were darkness, and the creativity spark shone again!
Since my Kob, Piet, (yes that was his name) was too big for our braai – can you imagine anything being too big for a braai? – I had to opt for an oven baked version. It also turned out that no oven pan on earth would be able to be big enough for Piet, so unfortunately I had to chop his head off. Sorry Piet…
I decided to stuff Piet with an amazing stuffing made with fresh breadcrumbs, portabellini mushrooms, fresh herbs and caramelized onion. Then I rubbed Piet up a bit, with freshly ground sea salt and black pepper; olive oil and generous amounts of freshly squeezed lemon juice. See, lots of freshness going around here…
The result was really amazing. I found its firm flesh to be perfectly cooked and flaky after its time in the oven, and with a crispy baked skin, loads of extra sides – it was a meal as healthy as it was delicious.
Preheat your oven to 230 degrees Celsius, and have the biggest oven pan available that you can find…
I also managed to make a Provençal sauce, coleslaw and dirty rice with our Kob and we feasted until only the poor things tail was left. Ocean Mile, distributors and importers for the Pemba Bay Kob (and many other delicious products), take pride in quality, service and price. Amongst one of their favorites – the Pemba Bay Kob, from a company called Aquapemba, is sea farmed in Mozambique in a sustainable and ethical way, being fair to the ecosystem and the agricultural development in that region. Well done guys, we are all saving the planet one step at a time!
Check them out on twitter @OceanMile @aquapemba and visit them here.www.aquapemba.com
Prep Time | 20 min |
Cook Time | 40 min |
Servings | people |
- 15 ml olive oil
- 2 onions chopped fine
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
- salt and black pepper to season
- handful parsley chopped
- handful coriander chopped
- handful dill chopped
- 2 cups portabelinni mushrooms chopped
- 1,8 kg pemba bay kob scaled and cleaned
- olive oil to rub
- salt and black pepper to season
- 2 lemons juice retained
- sosatie sticks to hold fish together
- foil
Ingredients Stuffin
Fish
|
- In a saucepan, heat the olive oil and saute the onions until translucent. Sprinkle with sugar, add the water and allow to simmer until caramelized. Transfer to mixing bowl.
- Add the rest of the ingredients for the stuffing and mix well.
- Then chop the fish’s head off. Be ruthless.
- Stuff the cavity of the fish (you can cut more along the spine for extra space) with stuffing. The extra stuffing freezes very well.
- Close the fish up by using sosaties sticks; I just cut mine in half with a kitchen knife.
- Rub the fish with olive oil, salt and black pepper and loads of freshly squeezed lemon juice.
- Cut a few inserts along the top part of the fish’s skin.
- Line your oven pan with foil, transfer the fish to it, add fresh lemons to the pan and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 40 minutes.Serve with lemon, coriander and sea salt.