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One fish, two
fish, me fish, you
fish....
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What’s your sign? If you were
born under the influence of the planet Neptune, you’re
a Pisces. For some celestial reason we may never fully
fathom, undersea beasts rule the astrological calendar
this time of year; this particular zodiac sign is depicted
as two fish facing in opposite directions. Whether by accident
or design, the period from late February to late March
also coincides with the season of Lent, when meatless meals
are part of Catholic tradition.
And tying it all together
for good, the fish is one of the most important symbols
of the early church. In
Greek, the phrase, “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior” is
translated, “Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter.” The
first letters of each of these Greek words, when put together,
spell “ichthys,” the Greek word for “fish.” Seafood
was always an important part of my food experiences. My
Sicilian grandmother brought the fruits of the ocean to
our table in the form of clams, squid, boiled cod in salads,
baked crabs robed in spicy tomato sauce as well as fluke
and flounder fillets, stuffed with seasoned breadcrumbs
and rolled into pinwheels.
For all that, though, one thing
I never saw was fish entering her kitchen in their
original state with heads and tails, bones and scales. The
first time I ordered fish at a restaurant, it arrived at
the table in all its briny glory: head and tail still intact,
with a curiously detached expression as if it had been
interrupted in the middle of a daydream. But what a culinary
revelation! Peel back the skin to reveal delicate and moist
flesh that detaches easily from the bone and sings the
song of the sea in your mouth. This was fish! Everything
else, I realized then, amounts to merely water-grown protein
made to taste as little like fish as possible.
This recipe uses a very simple mixture
of lemon with herbs and spices to complement the gentle
flavor of the fish. People have been enjoying seafood exactly
this
way for thousands of years. After one taste, you’ll know why.
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Ingredients:
2 whole fish, cleaned and scaled, 3 to 4 pounds
(sea bass, red snapper or porgy)
2 to 3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1 tablespoon thyme
1 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt
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Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the lemon into 1/4-inch pieces, then add
to the garlic, parsley and thyme, and pulse them in the bowl of a food processor
until a coarse paste, called gremolata, is formed. Place a piece of heavy
aluminum foil into the bottom of a baking pan. Pour in 1 tablespoon of the
olive oil. Place fish on top. Score the flesh of the fish at 3-inch intervals
with a sharp knife, and insert some gremolata into each slit. Place any remaining
mixture into the fish cavities. Drizzle fish with remaining olive oil and
sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily
and comes away from the bones. Gently slide fish onto a platter; serve additional
lemon on the side.
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