COOKING on an outdoor grill gives food a distinctive flavour, and I love experimenting with its smoky complexity. Fish can make a sensational change to the default choice of burgers and sausages for the barbecue. The marriage of blistered skin and moist pearly flesh within, all imbued with the subtle kiss of charcoal, is the ultimate outdoor food, capturing the sunshine flavour of holidays abroad.
If you like buying new kit, you could get one of those metal racks that enclose fish to help to turn it. Alternatively, brush the skin with oil and use a wide, long spatula to lift and turn the fish. The rustic look is desirable, so don’t worry too much about the look. More important is flavour: how will you get seasoning into a fish grilled whole? I score the flesh and insert slivers of garlic and sprigs of thyme and rosemary, rubbing sea salt flakes in as well. Once cooked, lift the fillet away from the bone to expose the inside part, then season again with sea salt flakes and lemon juice. A vinegary or salty salsa is ideal, as is a kick of chilli for extra gutsiness.
Grilled whole sea bream cooked on the barbecue
Recipes serve four
4 whole sea bream (or sea bass)
Olive oil
Bushy thyme sprigs
2 sprigs rosemary
2-3 cloves garlic
Sea salt
3 lemons, halved widthways, visible pips removed
Method
1. Buy fish as close to serving time as possible. Pre-order from the fishmonger, requesting it be gutted, fins and gills trimmed, eyes removed and tail trimmed into a dart shape (or do this yourself). If you want to eat the skin, ask for any scales to be removed. Once home, from packaging and rinse under cold water, especially around the cavity that the guts were removed from. Dab dry on paper towel then place on a clean tray or in a tub and refrigerate.
2. To prepare fish for the barbecue: With scales removed: make four incisions with a sharp knife down each side of each fish. Snip thyme and rosemary into 2cm lengths then insert the herbs into the incisions. Peel and finely slice the garlic then insert some here and there as well. If your fish has scales on: ensure the cavity is clean and dry then insert herbs and garlic into the cavity. Insert a cocktail stick lengthways, weaving it in and out of the cavity flaps once or twice, to act a pin holding the herbs in. Don' worry if some come out during cooking.
3. To cook, ensure the barbecue grill is lit at least an hour in advance if using charcoal coal. Allow the flames to die and the coals to reach a white-hot bed stage.
4. Scrub the bars of the cooking surface with a metal grill brush to remove any residues which can cause sticking during cooking.
5. When the grill and cooking bars are hot, remove fish from the fridge and pat dry again with paper towel. Brush lightly with oil down the full side of each fish so it is moistened but not dripping in oil. Place the first fish on a diagonal angle across the middle of the grill bars. Leave for a whole two minutes, and do not be tempted to prop and fiddle about with the fish. Then use a long wide spatula to help turn the fish. The best way to do this is to insert it under the full length of the fish, so the body has the full support of the spatula’s length. Turn the fish 90 degrees so it is still cooking on the same side as before, but across the grill at the opposite angle. This will make the distinctive criss-cross markings that you want for both flavour and for attractive presentation. Cook for a further two minutes on this same side again.
6. Now turn the fish over. Place your spatula under the full length of the fish again, just as you did to give it the quarter turn in the last step. Place your hand on top of the upper side of the fish to hold it in place then swiftly and confidently turn the fish over to cook the reverse side. Cook for two minutes again then give a quarter turn just as you did for the previous side then remove from the grill onto clean serving plates. Continue until all the fish are done
7. Meanwhile, during cooking, place four pieces of the cooked lemon at the edge of the barbecue and grill these for a few minutes so the surface takes on charred markings. Place one for each person on the plate.
8. With the other reserved lemon squeeze a little juice on each fish and sprinkle sea salt flakes. Serve at once, with more sea salt flakes in the middle of the table for people to sprinkle on their fish as they open it up and they can squeeze their own charred lemon over their own plate as well. If the fish has scales on, let people know, so they peel the skin away and don't eat it.
Cherry tomato and chilli dressing
A punnet of cherry tomatoes
1 red chilli
1 red pepper
1 rounded dstsp finely chopped chives
1 bunch spring onions
4 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp sherry vinegar
Method
1. Halve the tomatoes and place in a mixing bowl.
2. Halve the red pepper, remove the white pith and seeds then dice the flesh as finely and evenly as possible. Add to the tomatoes. Repeat with the chilli.
3. Trim off any browned tops or outer layers of spring onions then slice the onions finely in rounds. Add to the bowl. Complete to this stage in advance.
4. About an hour before serving, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Season with a little salt then taste. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with the grilled fish.
Geoffrey Smeddle is chef patron of The Peat Inn, by St Andrews, Fife KY15 5LH 01334 840206 www.thepeatinn.co.uk
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