Moroccan Style Fish

I've been away from the blog for some time, but I haven't stopped cooking.  The discovery of a friend from the way-back machine has inspired me to get back to the blogging habit.  Thanks Jos!

So, I found myself at the fish case on Saturday making eyes with a beautiful row of whole trout, so I took one home with no particular plan in mind.  I have often picked up little half pounders or smaller and prepared one for each of us - mine with mushrooms, ginger, oyster sauce, scallions, and lime...his with garlic, fennel, lemon, fresh tomato, and basil.

This googly eyed fish was a bigger fella, nearly a full pound, so he'd have to work for both of us.  I rolled at least a half dozen ideas around in my head and settled on something in the Moroccan vein.  I looked up scores of recipes for "Moroccan Style Fish," then started with an amalgamation of the things I liked the best. From there...I kinda went off the rails like I usually do and this is what we ended up with - try it along side this Chick Pea and Lentil Salad.

Yield: 2 servings, plus 2 servings left over grains

Time: 90 min to 3 hours...depending on how long you marinate

Ingredients:

For the Marinade

1 small bunch cilantro (coriander), leaves only, finely chopped...parsley will work too

1 T paprika

1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 t coriander seeds (or 1/2 t ground coriander)
1 t black pepper corns (or 1/2 t ground black pepper)

1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled (optional)
1 t cumin

1 t salt, or more to taste

1-2 teaspoon ginger 

4 cloves garlic, pressed or finely chopped

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

juice of 1 small lemon

For the Fish
.75 - 1 lb fresh whole fish (or skin on boned fillets or naked...whatever you're comfortable with.  I used trout, but rockfish, bass, grouper, or any nice white fish will do.  Hell use chicken breasts or thighs if you like!)
1 large carrot, cut into long sticks
1 large celery, cut into long sticks
1/2 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 russet potato, thinly sliced (didn't have one, so left it out)
1 tomato, thinly sliced or a couple of canned fellas
6-10 olives of your choosing...hate olives?  Try capers or anything briney that you like.
6 dried figs, halved
lemon, thinly sliced
olive oil

Method:

• Heat oven to 425*
• Combine all dry marinade ingredients in a spice grinder and grind.  Mix with all other marinade ingredients.
• Rinse and dry fish.  If using a whole fish, slash both sides about 3-4 times.  Rub marinated, inside and out, be sure to get some in the slashes too.  You should have about half the marinade left.  That's cool.
• Wrap fish in plastic and toss in fridge till you're ready to get it in the oven.  Let marinate up to 2 hours if you have the time.
• Slice up all your other veggies, oil a small roasting pan, just big enough to hold the fish, and make a lattice of the carrots and celery.  The fish will rest on top of this.  Surround the lattice with a later of onion, then top with potato slices, then tomato. 
• Plop the fish on top of the lattice, place some lemon slices and some fig bits inside the fish.  Top the fish with a few slices of lemon, and arrange the remaining figs and the olives around the fish with the maters and stuff. Drizzle or plop the rest of the marinade on top of the veggies.
• Cover the fish tightly in foil and bake for 25 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake another 20.  (NOTE If you're going with fillets or steaks in lieu of the whole fish, reduce both cook times by half and watch closely after you uncover.  This timing will vary wildly depending on the type of fish and thickness of the cut.)
• If you went with a whole fish you can just cut it in half, or you can try to break it into two nice fillets.  Serve with head and tail on or off...I opted for head off, tail on, easy chop in half.
• Line 2 dinner plates with fresh baby spinach, arrange some of the fish pan veggies and goodies on the plate (maybe add a bit of this in stew or salad form) and top it all with a piece of the fish.  Serve with additional fresh lemon.