Day 10- Whole Fish Baked in Sea Salt

And Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning is always such a wonderful, relaxing time. Everyone in jammies, sitting together and drinking some delicious hot drink. Thanks to the wonder of Skype I was able to see join in as my family in Michigan did just that. I even got to watch them open their presents! Almost as good as being there. Almost.

Mohamed and I had a nice morning as well. For breakfast I made an Egg and Potato Breakfast Scramble. I found this recipe via my new love- Pinterest. We also enjoyed steaming hot mugs of homemade Chai Latte. All this time in Morocco I've been going without- who knew I could have been making it all along! You just need cardamon pods, cloves, ginger and a black tea bag.

Christmas breakfast- scramble and chai!

After breakfast we leisurely opened our stockings from each other and each found some delightful treats.

When we were feeling about ready for lunch, we started the main recipe of the day. It's another one from Epicurious- Whole fish baked in sea salt. I ate a fish baked in sea salt when I was in Egypt, so I was particularly excited about this.

Our whole fish!

I apparently didn't communicate well with the fishmonger as we discovered in trying to work with the fish that it still had scales and a spine! Luckily, Mohamed is extremely helpful in this department. He got rid of the scales and even figured out how to remove the spine so that we'd have space to stuff the fish.

For the filling, you start by toasting coriander, black pepper and fennel seeds, then crushing them up. You also thinly slice a lemon a few leeks. Stuff all of this into the fish!

spices toasting

Lemons and leeks

Stuff it all in!

Mohamed even closed it with string. He's so good.

Then you prepare a mixture of egg whites, water and salt to coat the fish with. I think this is the part I screwed up (can't get through a dish without doing something wrong!). I used the amount of egg whites and water that they called for, but less salt. So, the mixture was too liquid-y.  Anyway, you coat the fish in the salt on the baking tray.

coated with salt and ready to bake

We cooked it for longer than the recipe called for, but the salt didn't form the crust that it should have. I'm guessing due to too much liquid in the salt mixture. You're supposed to just break the crust and brush it off. We had to sort of scrape it and it still left too much salt on the fish. It tasted great on the inside though!

The verdict: This was yummy, but next time I'll reduce the amount of spices on the inside as it was a bit overpowering. I'll also be sure to get the ratio correct on the salt coating! Overall though, this was really easy and quick to make. And fish is something we don't eat enough of, so this is a pretty low hassle way to add more to our diet. It also made a memorable Christmas lunch.  

If interested, find the recipe here: Whole fish baked in sea salt. Hope all of you have a great holiday.

On deck for tomorrow (five days to go!)- TBD. I had a recipe planned, but now it just seems like too much work. I'll be on the hunt for something great!