Q: I would appreciate advice on how to prepare a whole fish in the oven

A: One of the best ways to cook a whole fish cooked on the bone along with hearty accompaniments. This recipe, inspired from Saveur, is a Portuguese-style preparation where the fish is stuffed with herbs and cooked in foil with sausage, potatoes, clams, olives, and fennel. Take the fish to the table still enclosed in its shiny wrapper, then slash it open to serve. Any white fleshed fish will work for this dish including hake, cob, cape salmon and reds. For more on cooking whole fish, join the Wickedfood Cooking School seafood cooking class, where you will learn the secrets of cooking seafood with confidence on kettlebraais and gas barbecues.

1 large bulb fennel
Salt, to taste
500g baby potatoes, halved lengthwise
4T extra-virgin olive oil
±300g chorizo , cut into 1cm-thick slices
±1,5kg whole cleaned fish
1 lemon, sliced into 1cm-thick half moons
Ground black pepper, to taste
10 sprigs thyme
10 sprigs parsley
±250g mixed olives, pitted
±12 small clams
1⁄2 cup white wine
Zest of 1 orange

1. Trim and discard stalks from fennel; reserve 10 wispy fronds. Halve fennel bulb lengthwise; slice into 1cm-thick wedges.
2. Bring 2L salted water to a boil in a large pot. Blanch fennel for 4 minutes; drain and set aside.
3. Add potatoes to boiling water; reduce heat to medium; simmer until tender, ±15 minutes. Drain potatoes; set aside.
4. Heat 2T oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add sausage; cook until browned, ±5 minutes. Set aside.
5. Heat oven to 220˚C.
6. Cut 4 angled slits on each side of fish, to the bone. Put a lemon slice into each slit. Line a baking sheet with a sheet of heavy-duty foil. Transfer fish to foil. Rub with oil; season with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with remaining lemon, thyme sprigs, and parsley. Arrange fennel, potatoes, sausages, olives, and clams around fish; sprinkle with remaining thyme. Drizzle with wine. Put another piece of foil over the top. Crimp edges together to form a packet.
7. Roast for 35–40 minutes. Cut into foil; carefully pull back edges. Sprinkle with zest, remaining oil, and fennel fronds.

SERVES 6

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey is our cookbook of the week.  It offers a wide variety of mouth watering dishes from Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. If you want more recipes from this book, click here.

4t black mustard seeds
6T mustard oil
75g onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
40g garlic, peeled, thinly sliced
1t  turmeric powder
2t chilli powder
1t  salt
4 x 175g fish steaks hake, gernard, or cob
50g red onion, peeled, thinly sliced
1 green chilli, thinly sliced

1. Place the mustard seeds into a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.
2. Heat the mustard oil in a small frying pan, then add the onions, garlic, turmeric powder, chilli powder, mustard seed powder and salt. Gently fry for 3-4 minutes, or until the onions and garlic are softened and slightly browned.
3. Transfer the mixture into a food processor and blend to a smooth paste. Spread half of the paste over one side of each fish steak.
4. Tear off four 30cm squares of aluminium foil and place each fish steak, paste side down, into the centre of each piece. Spread the remaining spice paste over each fish steak.
5. Scatter the sliced red onion over the fish and sprinkle over the green chilli. Fold up the foil and crimp the edges to seal and make four parcels. Place the parcels into a steamer, cover and steam for 20 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through (the fish should be opaque and flake easily when gently pushed at the thickest part).
6. Unwrap each parcel and lift the fish onto warmed serving plates. Spoon over the juices from the parcels and serve.

Serves 4

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studios. Cookery classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our cooking lessons are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Q: Do you have a simple, yet delicious recipe for fresh Kingklip Fillets?

A: Kingklip (actually a member of the eel family) is certainly one of the favorite South African fish, especially at the top end of the market where it appears on many restaurants menus. Unfortunately kingklip has been over exploited in the past and has become both relatively expensive and scarce, therefore placing it on Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (Sassi) orange list (click here for more information).  A great alternative however for kingklip is gurnard. In addition a closely related but separate species called ling is increasingly being imported into South Africa from New Zealand and Australia, where it is being sold in restaurants around the country as Kingklip. Having said that, there is nothing wrong with Ling, it is as as delicious and more sustainable.  It has pink to white flesh which is firm and forms dense, large flakes when cooked. Excellent fried, baked, poached, steamed or grilled. here is a recipe for Kingklip is simply pan-fried:

A perfect snack food, deep-fried in a fragrant flour and chilli coating.

1kg baby squid, cleaned, tentacles retained
1 cup flour
2T salt
2T white pepper
3T chilli powder
Oil for deep frying
2 lemons cut into wedges for garnish

1. Slit the squid open, and then cut into 1cm strips.
2. In a bowl combine the flour, salt, pepper and chilli powder.
3. Heat the oil in a deep fryer or wok, to the depth of 5cm.
4. When ready to cook, toss the squid strips, a handful at a time, in the flour mixture, shake off the excess flour and drop it carefully into the hot oil, taking care not to burn yourself. Separate the pieces, and fry for 2 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Repeat until all the squid is cooked. Serve immediately on a large platter, and garnished with wedges of lemon.
5. Serves 8-10

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood cooking school runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studios. Cookery classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our cooking lessons are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

This cross between carpaccio and sushi is refreshingly delicious. If you cannot get hold of tuna, you can use very fresh salmon or yellowtail fillets in its place. To make a really stunning plate use ±300g batons of each fish and arrange 2 slices of each fish on the plate. This dish should not be made more than 4 hours prior to serving. Shred the vegetables with a peeler.

2T black peppercorns
1T sea salt
1/4 cup coriander
1/4 cup parsley
1/4 cup olive oil

500 tuna (or other fish, see above), cut into large batons, roughly 5cm square at ends

To serve
2 cups daikon, shredded (white radish, or radishes)
2 medium carrots, shredded
2 cups cucumber, shredded
1/2 cup mint leaves
1/2 cup coriander
1/2 cup soy-mirin dressing

Soy Mirin dressing
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup soy sauce
11/2T rice wine vinegar
1T hoisin sauce
±1/4 – 1/2t wasabi powder

1. Place pepper, salt, coriander, parsley and olive oil in a mortar or coffee grinder and grind to a paste.
2. Place fish on a plate and rub in the herb mixture, pressing it on all sides of the tuna batons with your hands.
3. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over high heat, add fish and cook for 20 seconds on each side of the batons. Remove from pan, seal in clingfilm and allow to rest for between 20 minutes and 4 hours.
4. Soy Mirin dressing
5. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. Refrigerate until required.
6. To serve
7. Slice fish thinly into 5mm slices and arrange in a circle on individual plates, or on a large platter, leaving a space in the middle.
8. Arrange the vegetable shavings, mint and coriander leaves in the middle. Pour ±2T of dressing over each serving, if plating individually, or all the dressing if plated on a large platter.

Serves 8 as a starter, 4 as a main

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood cooking school runs Johannesburg cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Cookery classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our cooking lessons are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.