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Roasted slashed fish with aromatic paste

This is a simple but impressive way of cooking a whole fish. Slashing the flesh lets the pungent flavourings penetrate, and also ensures that thick-bodied fish cook quickly and evenly. There’s no end to the potential variations for the paste – see b…
Posted By River Cottage

This is a simple but impressive way of cooking a whole fish. Slashing the flesh lets the pungent flavourings penetrate, and also ensures that thick-bodied fish cook quickly and evenly. There’s no end to the potential variations for the paste – see below for a couple of suggestions. For bigger fish, to feed more people, increase the quantities for the paste and extend the cooking time.


Serves 2–3:

1 bream, bass, grey mullet or gurnard, about 1kg, gutted and descaled
A few bay leaves
1 tablespoon sunflower or rapeseed oil

For the aromatic paste:

2–3cm piece of fresh ginger, finely grated
2 fat garlic cloves, finely grated
½–1 small, hot red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)
1 small shallot, grated
1 star anise, pounded with a pestle and mortar
About 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

First, make the paste: combine the ginger, garlic, chilli, shallot and star anise. Season with salt and pepper, then add just enough soy sauce to make a thick paste.

Lay the fish on a well-oiled baking sheet. Using a sharp knife, make 3 or 4 slashes, 1–2cm deep, in the thickest part of the fish, being careful not to go through to the bone. Turn and repeat on the other side. Using your fingers, rub the aromatic paste into the slashes, smearing the rest inside the cavity and over the top of the fish.

Tuck bay leaves into the slashes and cavity. Trickle a little oil over the fish, place in an oven preheated to 190°C/Gas Mark 5 and roast for 20–25 minutes, until the fish is just cooked through.

Check by pushing a fine-bladed knife into the thickest part, between 2 slashes: the flesh should be opaque and just coming away from the backbone.

Bring the fish to the table in its roasting dish and ease large chunks of the flesh away from the bones with a knife and fork. Turn the fish over and remove the remaining flesh, then spoon any aromatic pan juices on to each portion.

Serve with plain rice or noodles, and stir-fried greens flavoured with a little ginger, garlic and soy.

Variations:

Herby paste

Mix 2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley, 1 teaspoon each of finely chopped thyme and rosemary, 1 finely chopped garlic clove and the grated zest of ½ lemon with 1–2 tablespoons of rapeseed or olive oil to make a thick paste. Season with salt and pepper.Proceed as above.
Spicy paste

Heat 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil in a frying pan and fry 1 teaspoon of brown mustard seeds briefly until they start to pop. Add a finely chopped large shallot and cook until soft. Add a finely chopped garlic clove and a grated 2cm piece of fresh ginger, then take off the heat.

Grind ½ teaspoon each of coriander and cumin seeds with a pinch of fennel seeds and a pinch of dried chilli flakes and stir into the shallot mix with ½ teaspoon of ground turmeric and some salt and pepper, adding more oil, if necessary, to make a thick paste. Proceed as above.

• All the recipes from the new 'Every Day' TV series are available in Hugh's latest book, 'Every Day'. Order your signed copy of 'Every Day' and save £7.50 in the brand-new River Cottage online shop.

• The new show 'Every Day' is on Thursdays at 8pm on Channel 4pm. In 'River Cottage Every Day', Hugh takes his passion for cooking into other people's houses, as he helps mums, dads and kids to bring real, simple and tasty food to the table. It’s his belief that good food should be at the heart of every kitchen, and the kitchen should be at the heart of every home.