“Do you think I should take one or two?” I asked the fishmonger. I noticed his thick accent when he replied: clearly, he was not American. “He sounds Portuguese,” I kept thinking while staring at the slow movement of his lips in the hope to decipher clearer information. The fact that he was mumbling and that, beside me, a woman was telling her son off rather loudly did not help either.
He started to enumerate a series of numbers which I had a hard time to hear distinctively, and told me about how much fish weight to count per person. The exercise started to become painful as I was trying to convert the numbers quickly in my head, hoping to understand what they meant in grams — the measurement system I will always be more familiar with, no matter how hard I try! But the information became all tangled up in my head. How much did he say? For how many? I eventually gave up. Why would I care after all? All I needed to do is choose two nice looking pieces of fish and we would eat what we could, and save the rest for a salad the next day, if necessary.
“You want to keep the heads?” he asked in an assertive tone assuming that I would.
“Oh yes, please! These are nice fish,” I continued on. “But do you mind cleaning them?”
I’ve always hated to clean fish. Pas vous ? Of course, if I have to do it, I can but let’s be frank here: I really don’t like it. Scaling would still be all right, but getting the guts out of the fish, “ah non merci, please no”. So when I can, I’d rather have someone else do it for me. Wouldn’t you?
He packed my fish, held it back to me, and with a teasing smile, he then added: “Bon appétit!” That put a smile back on my face, and only half an hour later, I was back home with two wonderful and clean branzini, excited at the thought of preparing a simple but scrumptious dinner.
Branzini — also called European seabass, le bar in French — is a wonderful piece of fish, don’t you think? I love its silver white color, and its delicate firm texture. When I prepare it whole, I try to keep the cooking method simple, to appreciate the full flavor of the fish. In summer, it is ideal grilled, but at this time of year, I prefer to bake it in the oven with a lot of herbs, perhaps a dash of white wine, and julienned vegetables like leek and carrots — this is the way my mother likes to cook it, and I’ve learned this cooking method from her.
This time, however, I decided to prepare the fish in the same way I remembered eating it when we vacationed in Guadeloupe and Marie-Galante in the Caribbeans a few years ago. I remember the small stands we would found each day on a different beach, where we were able to get a homemade meal made of a grilled whole fish — probably caught the same morning — rice and beans with a tossed salad. Accras always started our meal. Sometimes the wait until lunch was served on the table was fairly long, but did we mind? Ah ben mais non, not when we were able to have a swim as a way to wait.
Since it is a little early in the season to be venturing out to BBQ anything — unless you are comfortable doing it in freezing rain or snow — my two branzini were baked in the oven, wrapped tightly with a lot of fresh herbs, a dash of coarse sea salt and crushed pink peppercorns, wedges of lime, grated ginger and my favorite fruity olive oil. We ate them with coconut flavored steamed rice and a green salad, and to finish, we enjoyed a refreshing fruit salad made of strawberries and raspberries combined to stewed rhubarb, pistachios and coconut milk — oh yes, I will have to tell you about this one delicious dessert another time.
Now of course, we did have neither the beach nor the flavor of the French Caribbeans. Nevertheless, the simplicity of our island-flavored food was all we cared about.
I licked my fingers and the juice the fish left around my mouth in hope of finding more. Who said that two pieces were actually enough?
Quel beau poisson!
I don’t think we have European seabass in the Gulf of Mexico, but this post has me itching to hit the pier this weekend. Fortunately in Florida, there’s never a bad time of year for grilling out. I never have grilled fish before, as until recently I was not a consumer of seafood. Looking forward to give it a try with your recipe.
I haven’t posted before, but I must mention how much I enjoy your blog. And please do share the dessert recipe. I have some leftover rhubarb compote that I don’t know what to do with.
Il m’est arrivee la meme chose a Londres. Le seabass etait tellement beau que j’ai juste demande au poissonier de retirer l’interieur et les ecailles et il a eu l’air surpris que je demande a garder la tete.
J’adore toujours ton blog: photos, recette et texte! Bravo
I actually like cleaning fish. Yes, really!
(Except squid, but those don’t count. Do they?)
Thanks so much, love your cooking. This was my attempt at “loup de Mer”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48357405@N00/2172417125/in/set-72157600965935653/
Tes photos sont superbes !
Toujours une saveur de bonheur…et j’adore…Bon week-end Béatrice
Quelle fraîcheur… je partirais bien en Guadeloupe moi !
gorgeous fish!! beautiful photos!
I grew into fish in the last few years but haven’t ventured into the cooking it myself. Thanks for a great tutorial!
I adore that fish photo Bea.
This is my favorite fish (with Monkfish actually)…your picture is superb, fresh and I’m sure it was delicious 😉
Happy cooking, have a good week end Bea!
so nice fish
bright color~ yummy!
Oh, Seabass………then dessert, I can’t wait!!! Beautiful photography by the way, just stunning.
Bea, your work is exquisite! Thanks for stopping by my blog, i will certainly be back to yours for second & third helpings 🙂
Oh le bon poisson grille de mon ile natale, la Guadeloupe! 🙂
Ca me rappelle les ‘stands’ sur la route de St. Anne….et les accras
La dorade, le requin et le thon sont egalement excellents surtout en court-bouillon ou en blaff (un p’tit coucou au court-bouillon de poisson de ma mere)….
It does remind me of good memories of my Xmas holidays spent there back in Dec-Jan.
Even in my current home in the Netherlands, I am so delighted to be able to read your lovely blog that represent two things I spent time thinking about: food and travel.
Thanks for the pictures and this nice article..
What a lovely fish! I like to stuff them with lemon thyme and cook them on the barbecue. I wish mon mari liked fish better so we could have it more often.
I’m always a favorite at the fishmonger – not only do I not clean them I give away the heads!
Now that’s a fruit salad!
Rien de tel qu’un délicieux poisson frais dégusté sur le îles!
Le tien me fait très envie entouré de ses jolies herbes…
I hate cleaning fish too. I’m glad you kept the head, the best part is the fish cheek. 🙂
Tout ça appelle le bikini, les vacances, le sable chaud… Merci pour ce rayon de soleil !
Bien sur qu’il faut garder la tete, le poisson se tient mieux. Le bar, c’est un de mes preferes. tes couleurs de printemps lui vont bien. (en plus il est tres facile a vider celui-la, il n’y a pratiquement rien a l’interieur.
Yes, thank you for the sunshine. I woke up to two inches of snow on the ground. Your photos were like a mini vacation for my senses. I can smell the fish on the grill!
goddamn you and your stunning styling and photography! it makes me want to take a sledgehammer to my camera.
i’m not worthy.
The first picture just screams spring to me! It’s beautiful. I also completely understand about the grams thing, I can’t move away from that either. Other ways just don’t make sense!
that’s what i miss the most living in the islands..fresh fishes and seafoods 🙂
Wow. That fruit salad looks amazing.
Mais non! Tell me about that fruit salad NOW. You are too cruel.
juste un mot parce que Marie Galante est un reve, la Guadeloupe old school. l’art de passer deux heures à table les yeux dans l’eau à regarder les reflets du soleil
I’ve not even had time to read through your entry, but wanted to say: Oh, I love the new design! It’s totes instant love.
*dreamy sigh*
*goes back to read through the entry*
I adore baked fish, though I’m usually working with a salmon and I use lemon instead of lime 🙂
Pingback: Guadeloupe » Guadeloupe
Pingback: Guadeloupe » Comment on Remembering the Fish of Guadeloupe — Le souvenir du ...
Pingback: Guadeloupe » Photos, Part IV: Guadeloupe
Pingback: Guadeloupe » Exploring Guadeloupe
Pingback: Guadeloupe » Survivor Guadeloupe