Being a curious person – especially (but hopefully not only) when it comes to food – I could not simply pass by the fish counter when exhibiting this googly-eyed fellow with the colorful German name of „Kuckucksknurrhahn“ (which literally translates into English as „cuckoo growl rooster“ – no kidding). So it was settled that Saturday night would be fish night.
Gurnard sports a rather dense white flesh and is best either steamed or baked in the oven whole. This recipe comes from Sardinia and uses sun-dried tomato and lemon for flavoring.
I served the fish with a side dish of Castelluccio lentils, for which I used the lentil recipe from: Fried Pike-Perch on Puy Lentils with Dijon Mustard Sauce, replacing the puy lentils with Castelluccio lentils. Note that this lentil dish will need some preparation time!
Sanni
Ingredients:
- 1 red gurnard, cleaned
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in halves
- 1 bunch of broad-leaf parsley
- 2 sun-dried tomatoes, halved
- 200 grams of grape tomatoes
- juice of 1 lemon
- extra-virgin olive oil
- sea salt
- freshly ground white pepper
Preparation:
- Let the sun-dried tomatoes soak in cold water for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius (fan oven).
- Pick the parsley leaves off the stems, wash and dry.
- Fill the stomach of the gurnard with the halved garlic cloves, 1 sun-dried tomato and 1/3 of the parsley leaves. Finely chop the remaining parsley leaves and sun-dried tomato.
- Mix the lemon juice, a same amount of oliv oil, the chopped parsley and sun-dried tomato in a small bowl. Add the grape tomatoes, season with salt and the pepper and mix well.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper (approximately twice the size of the baking tray). Place the gurnard in the center.
- Spread the mixture from the bowl over the fish. Make sure it is well brushed with the liquid and parsley.
- Fold the parchment paper over the fish. Make sure it is well enclosed.
- Bake in the oven for approximately 45 to 60 minutes (depending on the size of the fish).
- The fillets come off easily after baking. Season the fillets with some more sea salt and white pepper to taste. Serve with a side of Castelluccio lentils (for a recipe see: Fried Pike-Perch on Puy Lentils with Dijon Mustard Sauce).
