"I was lucky enough to catch this fish in between shifts at work. Its great not only to enjoy the catch but to prepare it and enjoy eating it as well. This specimen was caught on local mussel right on the turn of the high tide. Enjoy!"
- Craig Bonney, Head Chef - The Anchorage
Ingredients
1 whole bream, approximately 600 grams
1 piece of root ginger, approximately 25 grams
2 whole bullet chillies
10g lemongrass
5 kaffir lime leaves
2 small limes (enough to get 50ml of juice)
White wine (I used a dry white)
50ml light soy sauce
Baby spinach and broccolini
Sea salt
Method
- Scale and gut the bream, removing gills, and cut through buoyancy sac to remove blood around backbone, if any.
- Cut three to four marks through the flesh along the fish to help the flavour penetrate and to speed up the cooking process.
- Pre heat oven to 220°C.
- Wash and slice kaffir lime leaves, de-seed chillies and chop finely, then slice lemongrass into small rounds.
- Slice ginger into matchstick-style pieces and mix in a small bowl with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and chilli.
- Use half of the mix to stuff the bream, and slice some wedges of the lime to fill the cavity. Season with a little sea salt.
- Place a sheet of foil on your work surface, then place a piece of baking paper on top of the foil. Put the fish on the baking paper and top with the rest of the chilli mix.
- Top with half moon slices of lime, and layer them over the top of the fish. Zest the other lime and sprinkle on top, then add some sea salt.
- Wrap the fish and leave one end open. Add the white wine in this opening, then wrap tightly and place in a baking dish.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes. Open one end, being careful about the steam. Check the fish and, if cooked, place it on a serving plate. Steam the broccolini but leave the baby spinach, just wash it as the fish will cook it when plated up.
- Drizzle the light soy sauce over the fish and garnish as required.
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