PREPARING THE FISH
In the rectagular oven pan, marinate the fish (two fish tails) with a little salt & kunyit (tumeric) powder & curry powder for at least an hour. You can grate some ginger into the marinate, too- making it less fishy. Grating is much easier than cutting & pounding it. (Learned that from Jamie Oliver, the Naked Chef).
Roll the fish slices in a teaspoon of olive oil, if you like (olive oil is considered the 'good' oil). Makes the skin crispier when roasted.
Then arrange the slices top of a layer of sliced big onions & tomato. This is
my way of preventing the fish from sticking to the roasting pan (easier to wash, la!) . Some people use aluminium foil but then again I think it is quite wasteful and some have health concerns about the aluminium in it. BTW, I once bought a pack of aluminium foil and opened it. It smelled funny and upon inspection, suffice to say that it was not clean. I suspect the pack left was opened for sometime & someone later re-sealed & sold it! Buyer beware..Arrange some slices onions on top of the fish too. Then when roasted, it will be crispier and sweet! I roast the fish in my small oven for around 20-30 min on 180 degr
ees. How do you know if its done? My unconventional way is to use the 'Nose' test. If a delicious smell comes from the oven, then most probably it's cooked! However, if you smell something burning -- oh-oh!Alternatively, you can also use an oven-toaster but for smaller fish slices. Small ovens, I believe are more energy efficient if you are roasting only 2 slices of fish!
PREPARING THE SALAD
I don't like to use the iceberg lettuce (a common salad veg.) as it practically has no taste.
A better tasting veg. would be the baby Romaine (as in the photo), commonly known as 'Yau Mak'. After washing, you must remove as much water from the leaves as possible. There are many ways to do this, the conventional & the wacky!. The normal way would be to just flick each leaf to remove the water (make sure no one's standing beside you, though :)) or you can dab it with a clean kitchen towel (now, don't waste by using paper towels!). Or you can follow, Mr. Bean and put into a sock, hold one end and spin it. There's actually a gadget (which Martha Stewart uses) called the salad spinner.I just put them in a plastic container, hold the lid over it with a slight gap, then turn the container upside-down and shake the leaves inside. The little gap will allow excess water to flow out! Close the lid tightly and it can keep fresh & crispy for many days.
Tear each leave into 2-3 parts and place in a bowl. For dressing, I just drizzle a little extra virgin oil and some balsamic vinegar and toss. Add a sprinkle of fine salt & black pepper. The black pepper should be freshly ground to have that nice peppery aroma but after having used & broken 2 pepper grinders, I resorted to pounding a bunch of black peppercorns in a mortar and storing it in a small container.
PUTTING IT TOGETHER
Once the fish is cooked, put it on one side of a large dinner plate, add
the salad on the side and scoop the onions & tomatoes which should be a well-cooked and juicy & spicy, on to the salad. If it is hot, it will slightly blanch the salad leaves, which is fine if you don't really like raw veg.Use a knife & fork, and you will have a quick, elegant dinner to enjoy which has protein (fish), carbohydrate & nutrients (veg., onion & tomato) and some fish oil & olive oil.
If you are having one of those 'dinner in front of the TV' nights, then
break up the fish and put on top of a plate of salad, top with the onion/tomato gravy. Sprinkle a bit of black pepper to perk up the dish. Then you can eat with one hand while glueing your eyes to the TV!Washing up : 1 oven tray, 1 bowl, 1 dinner plate, 1 grater, 1 fork & 1 knife.
P.S. Oops, just realised that my salad (on the plate) is made with 'Butterhead' salad leaves instead. Tastes great too and not too expensive.
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