We decide to have a New Year’s Day party to welcome in 2008 with family and friends. One of the delights of hosting a party here by the sea in Sierra Leone, is preparing the fish dishes. So we would like to share some of our recipes for this from begining to end.
1 Take a wander down to a local beach and locate the position of a fishing boat and the fishermen pulling in each end of the net.
2 Go and speak to the fishermen and ask them how long it will be before they land the catch, they will give you extremely accuarate information.
3 You can then make an informed decision as to whether to wait around, have a Star Beer and watch them bring the catch in or go away to do something else and return.
4 When the catch is landed choose your fish. It doesn’t even matter if you are not used to buying fish, the fishermen will help you. They will tell you the name, the “sweetness” and the bone structure of each fish.
5 Negotiate your price and have a chat about fishing all at he same time.
6 Take the fish home and clean it (or have it cleaned, you will find plenty of volunteers to do this here) as soon as possible.
Now for the cooking. Here are two of our favourite party recipes, one spicey, one very mellow.
Fresh fish steaks baked with ginger, lemon and hot pepper.
1 Using a pestle and mortar (or an electric blender if you prefer) grind together a handful of very fresh, peeled ginger, and a handful of small chillie peppers into a rough paste.
2 Cut four – five of the fish into steaks about 2″ thick and place on a baking tray or roasting tin lined with tin foil.
3 Smear each of the steaks with a little of the ginger/pepper paste.
4 Squeeze the juice of one very juicy lemon (lime can be substuted if preferred) over all of the steaks.
5 Sprinkle with salt to taste and freshly, roughly ground, black pepper.
6 Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over the fish steaks.
7 Cover with tin foil to make a loose parcel.
8 Bake around 190 C/ 375 F/gas 5 for 15-20 minutes.
Serve and enjoy.
Alternatively and if you have the ingredients you could use this same recipe but wrap the fish in banana leaves formed into parcels and bake over a fire or barbeque.
Fresh fish, whole or in steaks with leaf (spring) onion baked in butter.
1 Place four of the fish, either whole or cut into 2″ steaks, on a baking tray or roasting tin lined with tin foil.
2 Mix 1/4 teaspoon of lemon/lime or fine wine vinegar into 1/8 cup of water and sprinkle over all fish just to dampen them and moisten the bottom of the dish.
3 Top and tail the spring/leaf onion and discard any tough outer layers.
4 Chop the sring/leaf onion into 1″ pieces and sprinkle these on top of all the fish.
5 Sprinkle with salt to taste and freshly, roughly ground, black pepper.
6 cut 2 oz butter (50 g) into small pieces, and place on top of each of the fish.
7 Cover with tin foil to make a loose parcel.
8 Bake around 190 C/ 375 F/gas 5 for 15-20 minutes.
Serve and savour
Bon appetit
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