5 February 2012

Breams with herbes de Provence on a sea of bi-coloured peppers and snowy rice

I don't have to cook too often (thanks to my employer!) but when I do and especially when I have guests, I am keen to prepare a good meal (I guess I have been used to great cooking from all the women in my life!). The great thing about it is that it's often quite easy. So here are the steps of what I prepared for my guest last night, hoping she enjoyed it (about 20 minutes to prepare, plus 40 minutes of cooking):

Sebastian’s cooking

1. Get two hollowed out sea breams, put them in aluminium foil (so the heat of the oven gets captured around the fish and also so the fish skin doesn't stick to the dish), add some olive oil and herbs (in my case, herbes de Provence). Ideally add small tomatoes cut in half. Put int the oven, standard heating, at 180°C for 40-60 minutes.

Sebastian’s cooking
Sebastian’s cooking
Sebastian’s cooking

2. Wash and cut 2 peppers (2 are enough for 2 people) in quarters, get rid of the seeds, then cut the peppers in chips, then in squares. Ideally use different colours of peppers, at least for the sake of style(!) - I know of green, yellow and red peppers, and I think I have seen orange ones too but I don't think I really paid attention whether they had very different tastes.

Sebastian’s cooking

3. Cut 2 cloves of garlic in half and remove the inside germ (which you can't miss), then cut the garlic in tiny cubes and add them to the peppers into a frying pan. Add not more than half a glass of water, use a glass cover, and gently cook during 30 minutes. Stirring shouldn't even be necessary.

Sebastian’s cooking

4. Boil some rice (about a small cup) for 15 minutes.

5. Serving:

- The fish is ready when the flesh is white. Serve as is, without burning yourself with the dish. Pour some fresh lemon juice. The fish skin is easily removed, thanks to the oven cooking, and you can quite easily get rid of the bones by gently ripping the flesh from each side of the fish.

- Get rid of extra water from the pan with peppers and serve the peppers in a dish. Same for the rice. I've even added both to the same dish, with a clean separation.

Enjoy!