Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Divine Dorade

When I come across a really delicious recipe, I do like to share, being of the caring sharing type, spreading a little joy and happiness across the cyber walkways of social interaction...

On Sunday, I invited my TWDearlyBeloved to dinner, having bought some Dorade Royale (Gilthead breams...). I bought them, of course, having no clue how to cook them, so, being well-clued with 21st century technology, Googled it. Up popped a recipe from cote.azur.com which was just the thing because that is my TWDB's favourite part of France, especially Nice which is his ville de coeur. That got me wondering where my ville de coeur is and I decided that it's nice to be so sure about something, but I couldn't be sure that Montpellier where I am now is wonderful because I'm used to it and the lifestyle is dead seductive, or whether it goes deeper. I'm still wondering... but not losing any sleep over it.

I do know that what makes it particularly alluring is the fact that my social entourage is so good. Good friends matter, don't they.

Back to dinner, then, and the recipe. I had also bought some Ratte potatoes which are supposed to be a bit like Jersey Royals, but are a pale imitation tastewise. When we were in Wales, we bought some truly exquisite Jerseys and I had to be very severe with myself so I didn't pig the whole bowl in a orgy of spud, Anchor butter and parsley. My youngest would have been fighting me for them, mind, as he is a Big Fan of Jerseys and Anchor butter.

The recipe called for the spuds to be mashed, but it seemed silly doing that with these dinky little spudlets, so I just steamed them and left them whole.

My top favourite way of cooking fish is frying it because it makes the skin all crunchy and delicious. Okay, it might not be the healthiest, but eating is all about enjoyment too, and I was using olive oil... Once fried, I poured the sauce over them - olive oil, lemon juice, coriander seeds (from the garden!) and seasoning.

The result was amazing. It was incredibly tasty. The flavour of the fish was not in any way overpowered, but enhanced by the sauce which I also dabbed the spuds in to give them a bit of oomph. Definitely one to do again. We drank it with some lovely cool rosé and accompanied it with salad.

My TWDB, who doesn't cook, loved it so I hope I've got the stomach/heart thing taped...

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