Grey mullet with mussels recipe

Details

• Cuisine: Mediterranean
• Recipe Type: Main
• Difficulty: Medium
• Preparation Time: 20 mins
• Cooking Time: 90 mins
• Serves: 4

Step-by-step

1. Preheat the oven to 125°C.
2. Cut the heads from the fish and set aside then chop the fish into chunks along the length of he fish about 50 mm / 2" in length; its best to start about 75 mm / 3" back from the tail and work your way to the head end, that way you still make sure you get a nice tail piece.
3. First roast the garlic by cutting off the top part so you can see the cut garlic cloves, drizzle with olive oil and a little salt then roast in an oven for about 20 minutes until the garlic is soft and can easily be squeezed out, cool then carefully peel the cloves.
4. Make a quick tomato sauce by gently frying the onions and celery in olive oil until soft, add half the wine, boil for a minute to take out its harshness then add the tomatoes and saffron. Cover the pan and cook gently for 30 - 40 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and stewed and really broken down, if the sauce is a bit dry add a splash of water. Pour the sauce through a conical sieve and press down with a back of a spoon to extract all the juice, the content of the sieve can now be discarded.
5. Add 150ml olive oil to a hot roasting dish, add the garlic cloves and stir, mashing 6 or 7 of the cloves down. Add the remaining wine, boil for a minute then add the tomato sauce and oregano, stir together then add the fish.
6. Cover and bake for 12 -14 minutes then add the mussels, after 5 minutes the mussels will have opened, discard any that don't, remove from the oven, sprinkle with parsley and serve. I really like this dish with just plain boiled rice.