Ginger and Sesame Baked Fish
There is nothing better and simpler to cook than a piece of fish in the oven (or the steamer....). This particular recipe is for a Asian influenced fish dish and it works well with a firm piece of white fish. For this particular dinner, I used a piece of cod (Kabeljauw) that I had bought recently from the food wholesaler.
Ingredients
Everything that you will need is in the photo above, as you can see it is a pretty short list and everything is quite easy to get hold of! Perhaps the hardest thing is the Sesame Oil, but that can be found at any Asian grocery store!
Fish (Filleted is easier!)
Ginger (lots!)
Spring Onions (Shallots)
Light Soy Sauce (I prefer the light soy for the flavour, it isn't light as in a diet version!)
Sesame Oil
Salt and Pepper for seasoning
Wash and dry out your fish fillet. I've only started to do this in the last year or so, and it does seem to make a difference! Use the absorbent paper toweling to press down firmly and take out as much of the excess moisture as possible!
Chop the Spring Onions relatively finely... they don't need to be too fine, as they will shrink quite a bit in the cooking! On the other hand, slice the ginger on the coarse side of things... I cut them in strips like this... these are things that will flavour the fish, but you don't want to be eating chunks of! So, by making them thin but large, you can extract maximum flavour whilst making them easy to see to remove before eating!
Lay your fish filet on a large piece of aluminium foil... this foil is going to be the steaming "house" for the fish when everything is all wrapped up! So, make sure that it is large enough to fold and wrap the fish in!
Rub both sides of the fish generously with sesame oil... it is okay if there is a bit of excess as that will make the sauce. Use your hands, as it is easier to really get in there with your hands rather than a brush!
Next, lay the ginger strips all over the fish... try to make sure as much of the fish is covered as possible. I prefer just to do one side as it makes it easier to get the fish out when it is cooked... but you can always do both sides! Then lay the spring onion generously on top of the bed of ginger.... finally finishing off with a nice splash of the light soy sauce!. All of this is going to melt together into a sauce and be the steaming flavour for the fish as it cooks in the oven!
Wrap wrap wrap! Bring the foil together and pack it in tight so that as much of the flavour and air stays in as possible! I hope you bought good Aluminium Foil... the cheap ones are a touch thin at times and there is nothing more annoying than a leak in the bag leaving sauce all through your oven!
So, a short 15 minutes at around 180 C should do it... although, if you have a large piece of fish, you could leave it a bit longer. The beauty of the aluminium foil wrapping is that all the moisture and flavour will stay on the inside (assuming that you wrapped it firmly!) and so cooking it a little bit longer to be on the safe side won't result in a dry fish!
Serve up with some homemade chips and some fresh salad and this is an awesome spring or summer meal that is surprisingly fast and simple to make! We also had it with some Vihno Verde ("green" wine), which is a light and refreshing variety of wine from Portugal... it really fits well together! Although, your favourite white wine should work well as well... or a pear cider!
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