Baked Red Snapper - feeding the multitude

How do you feed a multitude?  You just need 5 loaves and 2 fishes.  Of course, the Chef that cooked that dish, let's just say He had a higher calling.  The taste test, to put it simply, turned out to be miraculous!  (Mark 6:30-44)


No I didn't feed a multitude.  I can only manage to entertain my brood.  But to be honest, I don't fancy cooking or eating fish.  Poached or steamed fish isn't my thing.  So I tend to look out for "less-fishy" recipes that involve baking or frying.


I found this easy-to-do recipe in a magazine (I think it's 8 Days Dec, 2009) about 2 year back but only tried it last week.  I actually enjoyed it.  It's not fishy at all, it's healthy, the fish meat is moist ... plus, it's fuss-free (unlike having to clean up after pan-frying fish ... oil splatter everywhere tsk tsk tsk).


Ingredients

• 500g to 1kg whole red snapper, gutted and scaled
• 1/4 cup oil
• 2 potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 2 tomatoes, quartered
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp Bread crumbs
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Parsley for garnish
• lemon halved

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 220 (degrees Celsius).
2. Boil potatoes in water for 5 minutes.  Drain.
3. Place fish in a baking tray.  Season both sides with salt and pepper.  (You can either squeeze the lemon over the fish now or you can do it after the fish is baked.)
4. Surround fish with potatoes, tomatoes and garlic (I sliced them thinly).  Add sugar to the vegetables to bring out sweetness (neat trick!)
5. Drizzle oil over the fish and veggies before finishing off with a sprinkle of breadcrumbs on top. ( I made the mistake of adding too much oil coz' I didn't wear my glasses with I was checking the ingredients.  1/4 cup is just about enough)
6. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 mins.
7. Remove foil and sprinkle fish with parsley.  Turn down oven temp to 180 (degree Celsius) and bake for another 15 mins.

Here's how my baked fish turned out.

Have a try and let me know how it works out!  Enjoy!