Dukka Barramundi with watercress salad

Good evening everyone. I hope you are all doing really well. One more day and it is the weekend. In Melbourne it is going to be even better as it’s the labour long weekend - so no work on Monday. It might be a good opportunity for me to try some desserts recipes. We’ve been so good restraining ourself from succumbing to our sweet tooth, I think we can make an exception for the weekend. We will see anyway.

Today I had a craving for fish. In general I would go for salmon, however my husband is not a big fan. We try and eat it at least once a month either in a teriyaki sauce or with coconut milk and ginger (next time I cook either of them promise I’ll post it here). But I digress. My next alternative to salmon was Barramundi, which everyone seem to enjoy. Being in season it wasn’t too hard to find some fresh filets from the local seafood market.

At this point I would generally start with providing you with the recipe. But I thought I would take a few seconds to tell you how good this recipe was. Whilst the Barramundi was supposed to be the star of the plate I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised as to how the salad and its dressing turn out. It tasted amazing and I would really encourage you to give it a try if you can. And feel free to replace the Barramundi with whichever fish (preference with a bit of fat) that you have at your disposal.

For the recipe I use the following ingredients:

• 3 Barramundi fillets
• 4 tbs of pistachio dukka
• 1 tsp of dry oregano
• 1/4 cup of finely chopped parsley
• 3 tbs of bread crumbs
• 2 tsp polenta
• Salt
• Pepper

Step 1

Wash and gently dry the barramundi filets. Leave to rest in a plate.

Step 2

In a bowl add in all the ingredients for the rub.

Step 3

Combine all the ingredients together and add in the salt and pepper for tasting.

Step 4

Coat generously both sides of the barramundi with the rub.

Step 5

In a pan, on medium heat, add olive oil or vegetable oil. Place the fish, skin first, on the pan and allow to fry for 6 minutes and turn over and fry for another 4 minutes. When you see the nice crisp remove the fish from the pan.

In the meantime, I also prepared the watercress salad. In line with the theme of the week, I had a lot of greens on the bowl.

For the watercress salad I use the following ingredients:

1 bunch watercress

1 bunch of radish

A handful of snow peas (from our garden)

10 red and yellow cherry tomatoes

I’ve trimmed the watercress and only kept the leafy parts. I’ve sliced both the radish and snow peas very thinly and add them to the cherry tomatoes (halved) and watercress. For the dressing I’ve combined 2 tbs of honey with 2 tbs of olive oil, 1 crushed garlic clove, 1 tbs lemon juice, 1 tsp rice wine vinegar and salt and pepper for tasting. As usual I’ve added some red chillies to garnish the lot.

I hope you enjoy it!

Bon appétit!