Hi, foodies in the Hive!

Hope you're doing great ❤️ After some hard working days, I can finally show you my recipe for fish in cream sauce, which is such a versatile dish. You'll see about this.

It's the kind of fish you can serve with rice and salad...

...or pasta with the fresh touch of parlsey or extra parmesan or pecorino cheese.

This is the kind of fish you can serve for Sunday brunch or at a dinner party; it will all depend on your taste and #lifestyle. Everything feels just right with a fish dish like this. I told you: versatile.

All's well that ends well...

It's said that one shouldn't worry if everything turned out well in the end. About that, I made a couple of mistakes.

I had fresh tuna loin in mind for this dish, but I had to make do with snoek because I had spent all of my money by the time I was ready to go for some tuna. I'm glad I made my dish with snoek. The result was a nice surprise, much better than expected, even when I made a mistake and asked the vendor to slice my fish the wrong way.

My fishmonger is the best; he cleans and cuts the fish according to his customers' demands. He asked me if I wanted the slices thick and beveled as usual; I said yes.

Well, that was my mistake. If I am going to bake sliced fish, I ask him to cut it straight, as it is easier to remove the flesh from the bone later. I had to manage.

Economy tip:

Anyway, we had enough fish for the week. I bought a 4.5 kg snoek for $18. It's like paying for two average chickens (frozen) at the super (more than $9 each), but it's healthier--even if it's a big fish--, and also it yields more servings.

The head and half of the tail would be for soup and the rest to fry & bake and have food for several days. I paid 18$. Not bad.

In the end, we ate this fish for lunch for a week and even the cats had their share. I could not have done this with two chickens. Needless to say, I love fish--and vegetables--above all foods 😁

INGREDIENTS

3 kg 5 cm thick snoek slices (I used 3 slices of 1 kg each)
1 cup chopped sweet chili
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 cups chopped onion
3 tablespoons freshly crushed garlic
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup cream
2 bay leaves
100 gr grated pecorino cheese
Enough olive pomace oil to fry
Salt & freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Freshly cracked black pepper | Fresh parsley for garnish

THE PROCESS

Rub the slices with freshly squeezed lemon juice and salt before frying them.

This is important for the final taste of the fish.

Look for a big frying pan. I use a 35 cm old frying pan, which I use only for fish and seafood.

Fry the fish until it's completely done and golden.

It took me about 20 minutes.

To prepare the sauce,

start by frying the chopped onion. Use olive pomace oil and butter. Add the bay leaves. I used my old wok for this.

Let the onion fry for 4 minutes over medium fire, until golden.

While the onion is frying, remove the veins and seeds from the sweet chili and red bell pepper. Chop them and add them in the wok.

Meanwhile, crush the garlic cloves and add them in the wok. I used a little water to help the crushed garlic come out of the mortar completely--this little water (or white wine) helps you to deglaze the pan, which produces a rich broth to mix with the cream.

After a couple of minutes, when the sweet chili and red bell pepper are tender, add the cream. I added one cup; if my pyrex had been bigger, I might've added two cups--more sauce in case you want to use pasta as a side.

It's time to get the fish in the oven. I used a pyrex that would fit my little electric oven but that was big enough to hold the fish and a good amount of sauce.