Spiced Whole Baked Fish & My Cooking Class!

The basis for this delicious fish is a spice oil paste. Easy to make, it is a mixture of aromatic spices, onions, garlics and herbs and makes an all purpose seasoning for chicken or fish!

This recipe comes from a restaurant in Glasgow called The Fish People. I never actually made it there but I was given a cookbook that featured this fish and I became somewhat obsessed with it. In their recipe they brushed it with a tandoori paste and made it a bit fancier (because hey it's a restaurant). But I loved the flavour of the paste (that they discard!) that I smothered the fish in the paste instead of the tandoori paste! If you're looking for ways to barbecue or roast a whole fish this is a beauty.

We made so much of this paste that we've been able to eat this a few times including this past week and we've needed quick meals as things have been surreal. The bushfires burning in Australia has filled all of us with a sense of anger, helplessness and desperation. We want to help-so far we've mainly given monetary donations.

I wanted to do more, something personal as I was inspired by my friends who were offering their services and the #authorsforfireys hashtag. My book is out of print but Monica suggested that I offer my Dear Readers a cooking class. So here it is: I’ll teach you and three friends how to make biang biang noodles at your place (in Sydney)! These are so much fun and if I can be immodest, these noodles are ridiculously good. I'll also bring along a cake made especially for you :)

All you have to do is:

1. Donate $30 to the RFS (Rural Fire Service)

2. Email a screenshot of the receipt to info@notquitenigella.com and then I’ll pick a winner

3. Enter as many times as you would like (every $30 donation is an entry). Entries close January 31, 2020! Please share this so that more people can enter which means more funds raised :)

Lots of love,

Lorraine

xxx

Spiced Baked Whole Fish

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Cooking time: 60 minutes (30+30 minutes)

• 1 whole fish (I used a silver perch, around 600g)

Spiced Oil

• 250ml/1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
• 10 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 80g/3ozs. ginger, cut into slices
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1.5 tablespoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
• 100g/3.5ozs. tomato paste
• 5 coriander roots or coriander stalks
• 1.5 teaspoons salt
• 1-2 teaspoons chilli flakes (depending on heat level and taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

Step 1 - Add the oil to the onions, garlic and ginger and bring to a very gentle simmer for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and on a low heat simmer for 25 minutes. Remove the ginger pieces and cinnamon stick. Strain the oil and keep in a jar in the fridge. Separate the paste.

Step 2 - Preheat oven to 220C/440F. Line or grease a tray and place the fish on it and season on both sides with salt. Spread with some of the sauce and oil (you won't need all of this, this makes a cup's worth). Bake for 30 minutes.

Step 3 - Then place the fish under the grill and allow to crisp up for a few minutes. Serve with extra oil and lemons.