Monday Suppers - Only On A Sunday

At the organic market on Sunday morning I overheard my husband inviting my Mum to dinner as apparently he was making Bouillabaisse. This was the first I had heard of Nathan's dinner party plans. I even had to ask what Bouillabaisse was - it is a traditional Provençal fish stew for those ignorants like me. I felt tired already and it was only 9am.

The Bouillabaisse!

We decided to also make another dish to accompany the stew, as my Dad is not a big fan of either fish or stew and so the two combined wouldn't make an appetizing meal for him. We settled on a deep fried whole snapper with Sichuan pepper. We have done this dish before and it has been added to the list of approved fish dishes for my Dad. We also thought the kids would like the crispy texture of the snapper (sans Sichuan pepper).

The snapper recipe comes from Kylie Kwong. Ironically, I wrote down this recipe whilst watching a random cooking show in Los Angeles back in 2006. We have made this recipe a few times, always to much acclaim.

Deep Fried Whole Snapper with Sichuan Pepper and Salt

The ingredients:

1 x 850g whole snapper, cleaned and scaled*

Plain flour (we used cornflour as Mum is Gluten Intolerant)

Coriander

Shallots, split lengthways and sliced on the diagonal

3-4 chillies, bruised and cut down the middle but not completely in half

Whole Sichuan pepper corns

Sea Salt, 3 x the amount of Pepper

Lemons, quartered

1 litre of oil

*It is crucial to stress to the buyer-of-the-snapper, to not decline the fish mongers offers to clean, gut and scale the fish.

The recipe:

To make the Sichuan pepper:
Add the pepper corns and salt to a pan and dry cook until fragrant and smoking. Place on a plate to cool before grinding with a mortar and pestle.

To cook the fish:
Pat the fish dry with paper towel and place on chopping board. With a sharp knife, make four diagonal slits into one side of the fish. Turn fish and repeat on the other side. Coat the fish in the flour, dusting off the excess.

Heat oil in a hot wok until the surface seems to shimmer slightly and a coriander leaf sizzles when dropped in. Carefully lower fish into the wok head first, so it is completely covered by the oil. Add chillies to the oil. Fry the fish for 3 minutes, then carefully turn fish and fry for a further 3 minutes or until fish is lightly browned and just cooked through or the flesh is white through to the bone. If the flesh is still translucent, cook the fish for another minute or so. 

Carefully remove snapper and place on paper towel to drain. Transfer to serving platter, sprinkle with Sichuan pepper and salt, garnish with coriander and shallots. Serve with lemon wedges.

The result:
A shockingly bad photo of the end product - apologies. The fish tasted much better.
Crispy. Punchy. Flaky fish. Everyone loved it. We cooked 2 snapper, which everyone thought was too much but it all went. The kids loved it and devoured their plates. Even Dad had a generous helping.

The Bouillabaisse was amazing too. I just cannot comment at all about how it was made or what was in it. Maybe Nathan will have to write a guest post for me with the details...?

We also made an asian-style salad - again I cannot comment on how it was made - Nathan and Mum conferred to make this little gem materialize. Also delicious!

AND! Mum brought around some of my sisters dessert creation - Triple Chocolate Cheesecake with raspberries. Divine! Heart stopping! She should really be a chef!! (Again a shocking photo sorry - I was really off my A-Game in terms of photography on Sunday. I am putting it down to anxiety about large woks of hot oil and small children in close proximity).

What are some of your favourite fish recipes?