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Gilt-head Bream with Pickled Lemons

From the Bible (Nehemiah 3) we learn very accurate, who was involved in the construction of the fish gate in Jerusalem - from the sons of Senaas to the Tekoites. And Zephaniah's (1.10) prophecies that «There will be the sound of a cry from the Fish Gate» - whereas it is unfortunately unknown, what fish were brought through the gate into the city.

The breeding of sea bream, especially in the western Mediterranean area, is so successful that one could almost speak of a miraculous multiplication – similar to what Hektor Maille was dealing with in Jerusalem. A recipe with a Mediterranean swing, that comes from the restaurant «Herzog's» in Port-Louis.

1. Drip off well the pickled lemons, chop into chunks, mix with chili, allspice and pepper, process in a grinder to a very homogeneous paste. Stir in garlic and olive oil. Set aside.
2. Prepare three pieces of aluminum foil of about 30 x 40 cm. Slightly salt and pepper the fish on both sides, place on the sheets. Stuff the whole garlic, rosemary and lemon slices into the abdominal cavity of the animal. Spread some of the lemon paste on both sides of the fish. Seal the foil so that it can easily be opened again later.
3. Put in the oven, preheated to 220°. Cook for about 15 minutes. Open foil and bake another 15 minutes until the skin is crisp and slightly brown.

In landlocked countries to get whole fish can sometimes be difficult or very expensive. You can modify this recipe to filleted fish. The production of the lemon-spread remains the same, but we clearly need less of it for fillets.

We tried the recipe, for example, with 200 gm of cod fillets (without skin) and proceeded as follows: Spread a little bit of salt and pepper in the fillets, place on a piece of aluminum foil. Top coat with some of the preserved lemons paste - not too thick but regular. Put thinly sliced lemon (maybe even half slices) on top and finally a sprig of rosemary. Close foil and place for 7 minutes in the oven, preheated at 180°. Open foil and bake another 5 to 7 minutes openly until the surface has a slightly brownish color. The exact cooking time depends on the nature of the fillets.

Delicate, we also found a version with a 300 gm salmon fillet (skin on), we have cooked 7 minutes at 180° in the closed foil and 7 minutes open. The meat was then still raw in the middle.

When we were slowly running out of pickled lemons, we have added to the paste a good piece of ginger, which we processed with the lemons. The bright hotness of the ginger went very well with the lemon and the result was slightly less acidic than normal.

More about the travel adventure of Secret Agent Hektor Maille:

• Episode 16: Mishmash in Jerusalem
• Startpage of «Mission Kaki» (with overview map)
• More Recipes of the Secret Agent

After a failed metamorphosis, a hungry Hektor Maille traipsed through the streets of Jerusalem, his head full of fishy thoughts, but ended up with only a couple of chickpeas on his plate. We have therefore requested the restaurant «Herzog's» in Port Louis to put together a small fish menu for us:

• Crème Jérusalem (Topinambur soup with salmon and horseradish)
• Herzog's Gefilte Fisch (Carp dumplings) with Chrain
• Limene-Fisch (Gilt-head bream with pickled lemon)

And also:

• Mesabaha (Warm chick peas with tahini)

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