Last week, the Branzino whispered from its crushed-ice bed, ‘take me home and you’ll be happy’. Branzino is such an attractive fish that breaks apart with a bare nudge of a fork (I like to eat mine with a spoon). This mild mannered fish is like the perfect pair of jeans. Dress it up with bold flavors of ginger and chili and she shines or dress it down with a simple drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper and she will stay a somewhat in the background.

Since I wanted to stuff the fish, I asked the fishmonger to butterfly it (don’t be shy – if you don’t ask, you don’t get). Branzino is on the smaller sider and 1 whole fish serves 1, so why bother getting it filleted? It also has a flesh to fight for, so I recommend keeping that right where it is. Now, the question was, what to stuff it with. The Mediterranean way felt predictable which is perfect for days I can’t handle surprises, but today just wasn’t one of them. I went for something that borrowed from Thai ingredients – vegetables cooked in reduced red curry sauce and served with a mound of cilantro and mint rice.

The tang in this dish from the red curry, the fragrance from the lemon grass, the rounded flavor from the coconut milk and the perfectly crisped skin from the outside protecting the most delicate white flakes made this a dinner to be repeated.

 

Recipe for Branzino Stuffed With Thai Red Curry Stuffed

 

Ingredients

Stuffed Fish

4 branzinos, butterflied, washed and towel dried

1 can unsweetened coconut milk

1 cup broccoli

½ cup sugar snap peas

1 zuccchni, julienned

1 tbsp. red curry paste

1 can coconut milk

2 tbsp. cooking oil

handful of cilantro leaves

Juice of 1 lemon

½ tsp. sugar

 

Steamed Rice

1 cup jasmine rice

1 ¾  cups water

1 tsp. salt

Handful of fresh cilantro

10 mint leaves, roughly torn

 

Method

Steamed Rice

1)   Combine water, salt and rice, bring to boil, reduce to simmer and cook covered with a lid for 15 minutes

2)   Once tender, serve with loose cilantro and mint leaves over the top

Fish

3)   Pre-steam all the vegetables individually until al dente, refresh in an ice-bath and drain on paper towels

4)   In a separate saucepan, heat half the oil and add the red curry paste. Cook until oil separates. Add the coconut milk and reduce the sauce by 1/2. Add the lemon juice, sugar and check for seasoning (the paste already has some salt, adjust accordingly)

5)   Add the vegetables to the sauce and cook until vegetables are tender

6)   The fish: Season the skin with salt and pepper. On a hot frying pan, lay the fish skin side down and open to crisp the skin. On one side of the fish, lay down the veggies and lift the other side over to close the flap. Cook for approx. 3 minutes until fish is barely cooked through