Sea Bream with chimichurri
We’re blessed in the UK with some wonderful seafood, but many struggle with cooking it on a BBQ without it all going wrong, and usually sticking and falling apart. In order to stop these problems, there are many tricks of the trade to keep the fish from even touching a grill so you get no sticking; one of my favourite techniques is suspending the fish on skewers over the coals.
Ingredients
1 sea bream per person
Coarse sea salt
Coarse black pepper
2 cloves garlic
Handful of fresh flat leaf parsley and oregano
1 tbsp dry oregano
60ml extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of smoked paprika
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp tomato puree
Method
1. Set up your fire pit or grill for direct cooking about 6-8 inches above the embers, so that you can suspend a couple of long skewers with the fish on over the coals on the edge of the BBQ/fire pit without touching the grates; a couple of bricks with the coals between would work in a push. The heat at the cooking level should be hot enough that you can only
hold your hand (carefully) at this level for 2-3 seconds.
2. You need to skewer your gutted sea bream on a flat wide skewer from the mouth down to the tail, you can place a slice of lemon inside the fish’s cavity. Season the skin of the fish with plenty of coarse sea salt and black pepper.
3. Suspend the fish over the coals and cook for 6 or 7 minutes a side until the skin crisps and chars slightly. Ensure the fish is cooked through 55-60°C internal temperature.
4. Make a quick red style of chimichurri rojo by blitzing up the garlic, fresh flat leaf parsley, fresh oregano, dried oregano, extra virgin olive oil, coarse sea salt, smoked paprika, red wine vinegar, and tomato puree in a mini chopper. Blitz all the ingredients together until they form a smoothish paste. If you wish, loosen up with a little further olive oil, and then serve with the cooked sea bream.