Baked Fillet of Coral Trout with Mediterranean flavours

Oven baked Coral Trout fillet for one or two, is the perfect delicious weeknight dinner. When I baked this fish mid-week, it was meant to be just a quick preparation, fuss free, throw in a few vegetables and herbs that I had on hand, some olive oil, white wine and lemon juice, cook it for about 20 minutes and eat it. A lot like a traybake fish dish really. The result was so moreish that we decided it was blog worthy, and when posted would also be a reminder to me of how easy it is to bake large fillets of fish without much fuss, and with a very enjoyable result.

What's not to love about fresh Coral Trout or other Great Barrier Reef fish such as the Red Emperor, or even just your favourite fresh fish to eat, baked on a bed of very fresh vegetables, including cherry tomatoes, although strictly speaking tomato isn't a vegetable, it's a fruit. Using a simple Mediterranean-style method of cooking keeps the delicate fish moist and buttery. Why don't I do this more often?

It's not that often that I post an entirely original recipe from my kitchen but this is one. I sometimes spend quite a lot of time thinking about what to cook for dinner. Yesterday I had taken this fillet of Coral Trout out of the freezer, (the first very important step to remember), but when thinking about it, I thought that because of it's size it would be easier to bake it rather than fry it, which is what I usually do with smaller fillets of fish. During the week not only do we all want something that is delicious, it also needs to be quick and easy. Living in North Queensland we have been fortunate to buy fresh Coral Trout fillets, caught on the outer Great Barrier Reef, at a very reasonable price.

Baked to perfection

Ingredients:

1 large fillet of coral trout or similar firm fish (about 500g)

8 cherry tomatoes halved, I also added 4 slices of our home grown tomatoes

1 thinly sliced red onion

2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)

2 nibs of very fresh celery finely chopped with a few fresh celery leaves thrown in if you have them

1 sliced red capsicum

fresh thyme sprigs for baking, or use 2 teaspoons of dried oregano

ground black pepper

salt

1 whole lemon firmly sliced for layering on top of the fish

fresh parsley or basil chopped for garnish, or a few sprigs of thyme

Marinade

*1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

*1 lemon, zested and then juiced over the cooked fish

*1/4 cup white wine (such as Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc) or whatever you like to drink

*2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (optional)

Marinade:

Make the marinade in a small bowl. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon zest, white wine, and Dijon mustard (if using). 

Ready for the oven

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C.

Prepare the fish. Rinse the coral trout fillets under cold water and pat them completely dry with paper towels. 

Grease the baking dish with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and add the celery, tomatoes, onion, capsicum, and garlic if using, to the base of the dish, and spread out evenly

Place the coral trout fillet over the vegetables. 

Pour the prepared marinade over the fish.

Grind black pepper over the fish and add a sprinkle of sea salt.

Add a layer of sliced lemon halves on the surface of the fish.

I like to add a few sprigs of fresh thyme across the fish as well.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove the vegetables and the fish from the baking dish and serve on a platter. Remove the cooked thyme sprigs, they have done their job. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the fish for a lovely fresh finish, and grind over a little black pepper. Garnish with some fresh finely chopped herbs, about a tablespoon, such as parsley or whatever you prefer. 

Pauline's cooking notes:

1. Serving the fish with lemon wedges is probably the perfect way to present  this fish, along with a few fresh herbs. I haven't added lemon juice to the marinade ingredients, because a squeeze really brightens up the fish just before serving. However lemon juice could also be added to the marinade.
2. Whilst I generally enjoy Asian style flavours when baking a whole fish, these simple ingredients were absolutely delicious when baked with a large fillet of Coral Trout, because the extraordinarily unique flavours of this beautiful reef fish should be enhanced, and not even slightly masked by Asian sauce flavours.
3. Because this was a thicker fillet of fish, it took 25 minutes to bake in total. I removed it from the oven after 15 minutes, tested the middle which was thicker and still too firm, and popped it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. It was cooked perfectly. It pays to test whether it is cooked or not with a skewer before serving. Every fish and oven is different.
4. Good quality fresh fish really doesn't need much enhancement when baked. Simple is best.
5. The piece of fish in the photos doesn't look that large, but it was a large fillet of fish.

The older I become, I've noticed that the more I am enjoying cooked fish. I just love it. Many years ago when I worked at the University Library, and travelled to the Rockhampton CQU campus (the Mother ship for the University, ha, ha) for conferences and meetings, I would always take my Mum out for dinner at one of the nicer Hotels in town, which was her preference. She always ordered fish, either crumbed or grilled, with chips and salad, along with a Lemon, Lime and Bitters to drink.  Always! It was a real treat for her, and for me, and she probably also loved just having her daughter to herself, although she really loved our family events as well. She obviously enjoyed the fish, as fish and chips wasn't a meal she cooked for herself, although she might have grilled a piece of fish sometimes. I would generally order a good rump or fillet steak with mushroom sauce, which always seemed to be so much more delicious than when we cooked it at home. After all, Rockhampton was and still is the Beef Cattle of Australia, the home of Brahman cattle. Now, I often chuckle to myself if we go out for a pub meal, and what do I order? You guessed it, mostly Fish, although sometimes I feel like Chicken Parmigiana.  I am turning into my Mum, which isn't such a bad thing as she certainly raised me to enjoy good food, and she was a wonderful cook, and I enjoy fish more now than I ever used to. Even though seafood as in prawns, scallops, oysters and mud crab, have always been my favourite as long as I can remember.

Ordering Coral Trout fish in a restaurant these days is very expensive although it is caught almost on our coastline. I really think that my home baked fish was as full of fresh delicate flavours as any similar restaurant fish meal on the menu and certainly much less expensive when cooked at home.

Do you enjoy ordering fish when you dine out? Or do you prefer to buy it fresh and cook it at home, or is fish and chips from the local fish shop your preference? Friday night fish and chips used to be the preferred inexpensive take away from the local fish shop in many homes, sometimes for religious reasons. That seems to have changed.

Kind regards,

Pauline

(An original recipe by Pauline McNee, Happy Retirees Kitchen)