Fish for dinner.

Snapper. A fish my dad often caught while out on one of his many fishing trips. I personally am not a fan of snapper. I guess it’s because I ate so much of it growing up. They do say too much of any one thing isn’t good… definitely true in my case with snapper. While it was the favourite fish in New Zealand where I grew up, snapper takes second fiddle to Barramundi here in Australia. However, opportunity presented itself which led me to making this Mediterranean baked snapper for dinner. 

While doing some grocery shopping, Daniel spotted some discounted whole snapper. I was at home so he called me to discuss. I thought about it and reluctantly agreed to cook them up. After all, they were at a great price and while not my favourite, there’s no reason why the family can’t enjoy it.

I’m used to massive snappers that dad caught. These were tiny by comparison. After posting a photo of them on Facebook, my mum even commented asking if they were legal size or not. I guess they were. Surely they aren’t allowed to sell them if they weren’t legal size?

Snapper is a popular fish. It is a pretty lean, moist fish with firm texture. No surprise to you – I chose to use fresh garlic as the main flavouring here. I have to admit, garlic is by far my favourite herb of sorts. Plus it’s got a lot of health benefits including warding off colds and flu, purifying your blood and great for your skin and hair.

Mediterranean Baked Snapper

Cooking whole fish doesn't need to be daunting. This is an easy recipe with a tonne of flavour. I used snapper which is a popular fish. It is a pretty lean and moist with firm texture. If you can't get snapper, ask your fishmonger to recommend a good substitute.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Servings 3 people

Ingredients

 

• 3 small whole snapper fish, cleaned, scaled and gutted
• 8 pinch large garlic cloves, minced and combined with aof salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons parsley, dried or fresh
• salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 red capsicums, sliced
• 5 yellow squash, roughly chopped
• 1 large onion, sliced into rounds
• olive oil
• 2 Lemons, juice

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 220 degrees celsius.
• Pat the fish dry. With a large knife, make two slits on each side of the fish.
• In a large bowl, add the squash, onion, capsicum, juice from one lemon, and garlic. Toss together to mix. With 1/3 of mixture, insert this into the gut cavity of each fish .
• To make the spice mix, combine the cumin, parsley, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Use the spice mix to season the snapper on both sides by  patting the spices onto the fish and pushing into the slits made earlier.
• Place the stuffed fish into a lightly oiled baking tray. Add the remaining 2/3 of mixture to form a frame around the fish. Sprinkle the vegetables with a pinch of salt and the remaining spice mix.
• Drizzle everything generously with olive oil.
• Place the baking sheet on the lower rack of your oven. Roast for 20-25 minutes or until the fish flakes off the bone.
• Transfer the fish to a serving platter and squeeze juice of one lemon all over it.

Notes

• To make things easy, you’ll want to get your fishmonger to clean and gut the whole snapper. Also, if you prefer, you can choose to have the head removed.
• Other vegetables you can use in this meal include chopped eggplant, tomatoes and courgettes.
• Try different herbs and spices as you like - including dill, coriander and cumin. Serve the fish with wedges of lemon and a side of rice or couscous.