Last night’s dinner was very 1970s and very nice. And really very easy. Perfect combination really.
I got a butterflied filleted yellowtail from PnP for about R50. It was enough to feed three of us using less than half – so its yellowtail salad for lunch for a while. Yay.
Anyway – I chopped three or four baby fennel bulb into slices along with two of my oil-pot garlic cloves. I rubbed the garlicy oil on the skin of the fish and put the fennel and garlic inside it. I sprinkled fennel seeds on the oiled skin and put the fish into a heated griddle pan. I turned it after about ten minutes-ish – maybe less cos I am impatient. The fish was pretty dam fat and so I decided when it was almost cooked through from both sides to spit it into two halves, and put the half we wanted onto the griddle, skin-side up. Just to let the inside cook without burning the skin. I think a thinner or less dense fish wouldn’t need this.
It did means the fennel slices and garlic got some direct heat – which was actually a very good thing indeed. They were slightly toasted and yummy.
The sauce was beyond easy and amazing. I sliced up some more baby fennel bulbs into really thin slices. These I mixed with 1 tablespoon of dried dill tips, 100ml plain yoghurt and 100ml of sour cream, I teaspoon of lemon juice, and salt and a little pepper. All stirred together this made a really delicious sauce I shall use in future for fish, baked potatoes, potato salad even.
I made sautéed potatoes and peas – cos you gotta have chips and peas with fish really.
We all loved the meal – the fish was succulent and the skin crispy. The sauce was killer – and the yoghurt made it feel not entirely bad for us.
Will make this again for sure!!!!
