Baked Sea Bream with Tabouli

Saturday 20 April

Luken's had a sign over a row of fresh-eyed heavy-browed fish that said "Doral, or Sea Brim"; they got it, they said, from a Greek fish farm, and we should tell them how we liked it.

We bought two (about 3 pounds total), went home and checked Alan Davidson's Mediterranean Seafood (we met him, we boast, at a slavery conference in Rethymnon, 2004).  He helped us identify our elegant catch as gilt-head sea bream, Sparus aurata; the guy at Luken's must have heard Doral for Daurade, its French name.  We've had it in Italy as Orata, and it's a sweet-fleshed thick-bodied fish whose bones peel away nicely. 

We took hints from a recipe in Davidson for Daurade au Four. 

Made slashes in each side of each fish, and stuffed them with chopped chervil mixed with kosher salt, for a subtle anise flavor when tarragon is not yet out.

Got out our giant cast-iron skillet, plus its lid.  In oil, fried an onion that had been sliced on the equator very thinly.  Added 3-4 chopped Roma tomatoes and salt.  On this bed, laid the fish.  Splashed 2/3 cup white wine over, put the lid on, and put in oven at 375º for 25 minutes.

Lifted the fishies out onto two platters, spooned the tomatoes and onions around, and reduced the pan juices to a nice syrup.  Two big fish were more than enough, but we also had a spoonful each of a nice bulgar-plus-quinoa "tabouli."

We had emptied out our jars of both grains, cooking each separately: about a cup of bulgur with 1.5 time the amount of boiling water poured over to steep under cover; quinoa, however, is cooked like rice: about 2 cups, poured into 2 times the amount of boiling salted water, cooked covered on slow, low heat, for 30 minutes.  Then fluffed both up, mixed them together with the juice from all the lemons we had (4), an equal amount of good Spanish olive oil, a chopped red bell pepper, and 4 minced cloves of garlic.  Oh, and dice of the long-haired scallions we got from a Findlay Market farmer, that so captivated Dora.