Roasted Whole Branzino in Cherry Tomato Sauce

I freaking love my new kitchen. I love all the counter space on the island, the granite counter tops, the deep sink. The hanging pot rack still has me a little paranoid that one day all of it is going to come crashing down. But nonetheless, I still make good use of it.

Once I got all my kitchen things out of their boxes and in their proper places, and organized my pantry-and-utility-closet-and-laundry-room, it was time to get back to regular cooking. And this was one of the first meals I made for myself once the kitchen was up and running. It's super simple, so I won't go into details on the procedure.

Whole Foods recently started carrying fresh whole fish. Or maybe they've been carrying whole fish for a while now and I'm just late to the party. Either way, their Mediterranean sea bass (branzini) looked fascinating. It was already gutted, and the guy at the counter gladly scaled it for me. Pret-à-cuisiner.

All I did with it was rub its skin with olive oil, season liberally with salt and crushed black pepper and a little bit of dried oregano, and stuff the cavity with a couple of springs of fresh rosemary and fresh dill and 3 thin slices of lemon. Put it in an oven-safe roasting pan and put it in an oven preheated to 375 deg for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, flip the fish to its other side, and set the oven to broil for 2 minutes.

I made a really simple sauce to go with it, using grape tomatoes, shallots, fresh dill, and sake.  Why sake? I didn't have any white wine in house, and I was enjoying the fantastic sake I brought back from my trip to Japan. Call it a successful experiment.

I did feel a little guilty using my good sake for cooking, so the 2nd time around with this sauce, I bought the cheapo stuff that's everywhere in the States, Gekkeikan. It's unfortunate that the standard bottle of Gekkeikan in the US is not really that good (served chilled, anyway), even though it's one of Japan's oldest breweries. Actually one of the world's oldest companies, est 1637. And they have a wide variety of premium sake sold overseas that I'm sure are way better than what we have access to.

Sauté some shallots in olive oil and add 1 cup of halved grape tomatoes, then add about a half cup of sake and the fresh dill.

Quick, easy, and tasty. Just watch out for bones.

Moussaka (Sort of)

Recipe Source: Just experimenting

Recipe Result: Not bad. Has good flavor, but doesn't really hold up on its own. Worked well as a sandwich, in a pita pocket with some salad.

I miss New York diners. Just like pizzerias, delis, and bagel shops, you're always likely to be within a stone's throw of a decent local diner. I also miss how practically every diner had not only the standard burgers and steaks, but also a Greek menu. One of my favorite Greek diner dishes is moussaka. Think Greek lasagna, with layers of tomato sauce with ground beef or lamb, eggplant, and potato (sometimes). The best I've had in Austin is at El Greco.

I've tried to recreate it a few times in a few different ways, but I find that it's a lot of extra effort to neatly prepare all those individual layers. So, you know what? This time I said "F-ck the layers." I just wanted some spicy, hearty beef and eggplant in an herby tomato sauce. Basically, this recipe totally strips Moussaka down to its elements.

What I ended up with tasted pretty good, but wasn't very stimulating. It felt a little boring to serve with rice and veggies like usual. So I bought some pita pockets and some salad, and made moussaka pita sandwiches out of it. Next time, I'll try to keep the eggplant chunkier and more noticeable to make the texture more interesting, and add some more fresh herbs and maybe some lemon juice to brighten it up.

Click on the "Read More" link below to find my recipe. Try it out, leave a comment to let me know how you like it, or if you found your own way to make it less lackluster.