This week on unexpected recipe because I'm lucky enough to know one of the Local fishermen here where we live and He always told me that if I like fish Whatever you go fishing it will bring me Some and yesterday guess what Rings my Doorbell And these lovelies came in Black brains And Snapper fresh off the boat caught Yesterday and trust me nothing beats That kind of freshness so I'm gonna show You in this episode how to prepare a Whole fish super simple whether it's Done in the south of France if you're a Fish lover this is for you [Music] Foreign This is a black brim or a brim it is a Fish that lives in the Estuary which is Just at the frontier of the Sea and the Sweet Water it's very similar to the Snapper it's got a fresh and delicate Flavor now one of the criteria of a Fresh fish of a really fresh fish is That it does not smell fishy at all and A lot of people don't like fish because Guess what they think fish as good as Fishy smell if your fish smells even for The slightest it is just not fresh a Really really fresh fish if you can Smell it or what it smells like is the Sea you know and this is the kind of Freshness we want to have now preparing A whole fish is very easy in France we
Don't go always like filleting and all That all that jazz we take a snapper we Take this kind of fish 800 grams to a Kilo is the right size or what you need Here Is a pair of this is a diesel not the Best actually the following a pot a Little bit and all what you need to do Of course is to remove the scales been Done already get the fish it's nice Empty you can check to make sure the Gears has been removed they can give you A bitter taste in your preparation you Don't want that and for the rest You just have to be careful of cutting Off all of these little Little fins so you go all around the Fish it's a bit tough and the most Important sometimes they want it to be Dangerous is these ones This is a defense mechanism From the fish if they are attacked try To be bite on this is super sharp like Needles so you need to try to do your Best To go there and very carefully kind of You know bit by bit cut through the Whole thing and trust me it's difficult These are bones So you have to be very very careful so You go around the fish And you look at everything now if You want you can also cut the tail I Kind of leave the tail in the dish
It doesn't bother me some people like to Cut it if your dish is too small and we Are keeping the head but that's about it What you do you go around get all of These things and that's it so now that We have the fresh fish it is time also To get some other fresh ingredients that We're going to be using for our garlic So let me go to the garden [Music] Foreign [Music] Thank you Now that we have these beautiful Ingredients from the garden let's look At the Mison plus so the fish is stick Is done next potatoes very fresh cut Into small quarters onion thinly slice Tomatoes from the garden cubed One fennel bulb I'm going to show you Exactly how to work it bay leaf parsley Just the stock and some dry herbs salt And pepper optionally if you want you Can use some red wine but now let me Show you how we cut this and now for the Fellow Workshop now is a bit of a Strange beast and look at this thing This is it looks a bit looks a bit odd And funny and first thing you have is This this is some of the long stems They've been trimming they get dry so The first thing you're gonna do here What I like to do is to remove all these Kind of dry bits that are at the top
Just to tidy things up Once you've done this This is the daisy this is a big problem You see how it is is very dry and untidy And that holds all the leaves in there So what you usually do you cut a good Bit of it like that okay discard it and Then look up you see all these outer Leaves usually the bad ones the touches You can keep it for a stock or for a Soup or something like this and we're Just gonna keep the relatively good Piece of fennel so what you're gonna do Here you're gonna cut in half we're Gonna keep these this part here for the Fish so I'm gonna Keep this on the side and for the rest It's up to you I mean you can Cut it like this And then cut it again now if like me you Got a little bit of dirt that appear Straight on this thing there and it will Rinse and we're back nice and clean so Like I said you got your funnel all what We're doing here is this classic thinly Slice Off and all because we're gonna cook and Bake everything in the oven so how Exactly are we going to cook that dish We're gonna cook everything using just The one baking dish the first thing We're gonna do is mingle all of the Garnish together and pre-cook it in the Oven
For 30 to 40 minutes and when that's Done we're going to place the fish on Top and continue to cook and it's Uber Simple You take all your potatoes On a viewer Fennel in here All of the onions All of the tomatoes The herbs and you can add a bay leaf and Some salt and pepper Once you've done all that you're gonna Finish with a good Three or four tablespoon of olive oil You're gonna wash your hands okay very Important and then Once we're done we take a large baking Dish this is the one that the fish was In of course I've cleaned it and dried We're going to put everything inside Look at these colors I can smell the Fennel and the olive oil typical from The provence in the south of France but Don't you think there's something Missing in here yes This garlic you cannot have something From this for the performance without Garlic you can cut it like you want Small chunks press it you can you know Bash it browse it bruise I think it's Called in English Uh but that's about it and you mix Everything together Okay and then we're going to add a bit
Of water So you see how simple is that I'm getting here about a small glass of Waters maybe 100 150 mil maximum And that's it I'm gonna put this in the Oven at 180 degrees for about 30 to 40 Minutes just to start cooking all of This lovely garnish another garnishes in The oven let's take care of the fish Because it is not done the first thing We're gonna do of course is to score the Fish so you see there's this your Incision with a knife it's going to help For the cooking okay and then we're Gonna season the inside of the fish so I've got a mix of salt and peppercorns I Like to put a good amount in this it's Going to diffuse I've still a little bit Of that garnish from the onion and Fennel that we had I'm gonna put it in There and also The fennel see these little bits that we Have very flavors on these so you can Put some in here you can put some of the Parsley One or two babies And to finish a bit of lemon or lime up To you so you have that mixture of a bit Of everything in the envelope maybe Enough and that's how it looks inside I don't know if you can see so it's all Filled in and we're going to leave these Two in fuse while the garnish is cooking So I'm putting this cupboards back in
The fridge and we just wait for the rest To be cooked and here we are so look at This after 40 45 minutes all the water Is gone and you've got your garnish in Here and mix it a little bit in there And oh what's left to do Is to take the fish That we've carefully prepared before Put it on there and then I'm gonna add a Bit of olive oil okay it's the same Thing here No real drizzle and if you want from Here You can add in the dish some wine but 100 maybe even 150 ml but here I'm just Going to use water okay but that's a Choice wine or water okay it's a little Bit on there And that's it that goes back in the oven Another cooking time for the fish is Just 30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius And here we are it's done this is how it Looks like just out of the oven you can See the liquid on here as totally Reduced let's have a closer look to see How the fish is cooked now when you have A fish And you cook it and you want to check For the cooking this part right here You see if the flesh they touch on its Own like this It's perfectly cooking the same goes for The top fins like this you know if they Can be pulled apart very very easily
Then it's ready but don't start doing This actually in your dish it is very Important to scoop off the fish of the Garnish And break it apart on the side other Ways you're going to have bones going Everywhere and you really don't want That so as I said the first thing you Need to do is scoop your fish off and Put it somewhere else in a plate in a Pad or whatever and then the big Question is how do you deal with these Kinds of fish okay and there's two sides To it what you can do is use one of Those first off this is like this fish Now this is what you get in the Restaurants You see and they're very handy because They got that pointy bit here and you Can use it to really pull the skin apart And expose the flesh so that's if you Have this in your plate That's the first thing you don't want to Have to you know you're going to want to Do so you're taking all these bits You discard you've got here of course All this The spinal I don't know how you call Them like the the very the fish bones So same thing A little bit of Flesh there we're gonna Keep this here and you're gonna make Sure to get rid of this first okay it's Good to know how to deal a fish and I've
Lived in the French of Europe some time And I had many many fish so I got used To doing this so once you got this this Is a nice the nice part to it but Usually what you do this is what they do In a restaurant as well Slice in the middle like this and then Delicately You can scoop off The flesh and you reserve it You do the same here and this is where There's plenty of Bones so you have to Be very careful Not to take the bones with you and you Scoop off All of The meat and you can go all the way to The tail Okay You go a bit like this And use this like that there we have it These are the simple pleasure from my Childhoods living in the south of France And honestly nothing beats that garnish That simple fish and now it's time to Resize the dish just want to show you a Little bit the Simplicity of it but The best part is eating it this really Brings back memories and I've ate this Dish so many times as a kid when I was In several France I've lived in the French Riviera and I just can't wait Because that fish here when it's that Fresh
You can feel You can almost taste the sea the Saltiness It's like the fish has just like been Out of the water And you want to garnish Um Sometimes there's a real bone Let's be careful but lemony The garnish with the fennel and the Potatoes perfectly cooked and it's not Fishy or anything like this it's just That meatiness of the fish With the garnish The lemon the onions and it all come Backs together mingle I have this Explosion flavor but the good thing is That this is really light as well so if You want to have a light meal You can have a big portion of fish and It is really Delicious And there you have it this is the easy Way on how you can cook an entire fish Without doing any filleting or knife Work now that works with snappers I had Brim but other fishes as well it's very Easy and it's such a good way to prepare A fish and if you're new to fish or you Don't eat fish very often I would highly Recommend that technique just to have a Go but only when the fish is Super Fresh Welcome to the video for this week I Will see you on the next episode on the
French Cooking Academy take care bye [Music] Thank you [Music] Baby [Music] [Music] [Music] Don't leave me alone [Music]
Have you ever wondered why most of the Vinaigrettes in the grocery store are made with 10, 20, sometimes even almost 30 ingredients? I remember growing up in Provence watching my mother whipping vinaigrettes before every single dinner. She would mix in a giant bowl, delicious extra virgin olive oil, a robust aged vinegar (the flavor would depend on the main dish), sea salt and pepper and voila! I decided to do the same thing for my family and friends more than 20 years ago here in this beautiful country. And Provence Kitchen® was born. Stay tune for more articles and wonderful family recipes..
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