Sea Bream

110/18: Grilled Red Mullet*

110/18 – Grilled Red Mullet*:

Time for another dish from Berber and Q by Josh Katz and this time it was Grilled Red Mullet with Charmoula & Sweet Onions.

Why the * on the page title? I asked my fishmonger to get me some Red Mullet and he said that the Red Mullet he had access to were not great quality as they were frozen and/or farmed in Australia. He recommended Sea Bream instead so we tried that instead and at a shade over £5 for the fish it was a bargain!

This recipe is from Beber and Q by Josh Katz – You can buy the book by clicking the link below:

This was my last cook from the book:

023/18: Cauliflower Shawarma

Nice looking fish.

Grilled Sea Bream

Gutted and scaled by the fishmonger.

Grilled Sea Bream

The Prep:

I made the Red Charmoula by mixing Red birds eye chillies, toasted and ground cumin seeds, sweet paprika, chopped shallot, garlic cloves, coriander, flat leaf parsley, extra virgin olive oil and salt. This was put into the fridge along with a lemon and some honey. I placed these on top of the bowl to remind me to add them just before serving as it’s easy to forget when plating up!

For the sweet onions I put unsalted butter and olive oil in a pan then added sliced onions and thyme leaves once the butter had melted. After around 10 minutes the onions were golden brown so I put them to one side.

The Fire:

A full chimney of Oxford Charcoal Oak Lumpwood spread over the base of the Weber Kettle when fully lit.

Grilled Sea Bream

The recipe says to use a fish basket or cook directly on the grates (oil the fish to avoid sticking). I do have a basket but it’s not a fish basket and it looked like it might crush the fish so I put it directly on the grate. To add a bit of smoke I dropped some Lemon wood chips from Hot Smoked onto the coals and put the lid on the grill.

Grilled Sea Bream

4 minutes in, nice colour to the fish and tip to flip it over.

Grilled Sea Bream

BBQ tongs are a bit rough on a fish when flipping, I will need to get something else to turn fish over that is a bit more gentle!

Just near the end of the cook I put the pan of sweet onions back on to heat up.

Time to Serve:

I spooned the sweet onions out as a base for the fish then placed the fish on top.

Grilled Sea Bream

Next I spooned the Red Charmoula on top of the fish, such a great colour.

Grilled Sea Bream

Then topped it with halved olives and coriander leaves.

Grilled Sea Bream

SUMMARY:

I was trying to think when I had cooked a whole fish on the BBQ before and quite embarrassingly I think this might have been the first time. Over the years I haven’t eaten a lot of fish but I am trying different fish recipes this year so it was good to finally cook a whole one too!

Simple dish to cook but it tasted fantastic. The fish was super fresh and tasted really nice. The Sweet onions and Charmoula went very well with the fish and the combination of the three was great.

It might have been my first whole fish on the grill but it won’t be my last and I would definitely cook this again. Just cook more fish next time as we wanted more of this one!

Cook Difficulty: 2/5 
Cook Duration: Short: 2/5
Cook Equipment: Weber Kettle
Cook Method: Direct
Charcoal: Oxford Charcoal Oak
Smoking Wood: Hot Smoked Lemon
Cook temperature: 225c (ish)
Cook time: About 10 minutes
Internal temperature: Around 55c (Thermapen)
Notes: 1: Cook more than one fish!

This recipe is from Beber and Q by Josh Katz – You can buy the book by clicking the link below:

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