I love fish in all its forms: raw, cooked, grilled, seared, fried…and any other ones if they exist. But as Nobu Matsuhisa said, in Cyprus, although an island, we don’t know how to eat fish. Don’t get him wrong, he meant it in a good way. As a traditional Cypriot I stick to what I know: grilling the fish with potatoes, tomatoes and onion, or on its own, but this time I thought to try something different: cooking it on the stove. And it worked!
Ingredients from Alpha Mega
- 4 tbsp good quality extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 whole sea bream or sea bass (about 450g each), gutted and cleaned (I used Levantina sea bream from Alpha Mega)
- 2-3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- ½ small red chilli, chopped (optional)
- 400g small tomatoes
- 4 tbsp white wine
- small handful capers
- chopped parsley
Method
- Heat half the oil in a large, lidded frying pan. Carefully slip the fish into the sizzling oil and cook for 4-5 mins until starting to brown. Flip over and scatter the garlic around the fish. Sizzle for 1 min more, then add the chilli and scatter over the tomatoes. Pour over the wine and let it bubble for 1 min, then pour over 100ml water and season generously with sea salt and pepper.
- Simmer for 15 mins until the fish is cooked through – you can tell when the eyes turn bright white and the flesh feels softer.
- Lift each fish out the pan onto a serving plate and put the pan back on the heat. Add the capers and parsley, and boil hard for 1 min. You can now serve the fish and the sauce separately or slip them back into the pan, spoon some of the sauce over and bring the pan to the table. Drizzle with a little more oil just before serving.
Recipe adapted from bbcgoodfood.com
