Turknoy Dishes: Roasted Giant Fish

We had a blast exploring the fish market and the fruit and vegetable souq yesterday. But what's even more fun is the what we cooked and ate after! We have officially started our quest for healthy eating. I think, that is one of the quick wins of blogging, We get to clearly see, read and visualize what IS and what we want it TO BE.

Right now, we eat a lot of unhealthy food, fatty, oily, meaty, you name it, we eat it. What we want is to eat healthy foods, but it has to be affordable and fun as well.

It doesn't have to be Turkish Dishes - although majority of it will be based from what Cihangir knows or what his mom taught him. Most of the dishes will be modified by me who doesn't know the basics of cooking, who can't even distinguish a parsley from a dill, a lettuce from a cabbage (sometimes!). But hey, I know onions and garlic and it's a start right?

Hence, we introduced... drum rolls.... Turknoy Dishes! It may not be as regular as Turkish Dishes but it will something to look forward to. And to kick off - our first Turknoy dish is something so simple, easy to make and so delicious like you're-eyes-will-turn-crossed-eyed-delicious! (In tagalog, nakaduduling na sarap!)

But please bear with us, it won't be as detailed as the husband's recipe. My cooking reflects my personality - anything goes, whatever is available, optimizing things, making it quick and easy, hopeful for great results. Here's me hoping again that someone will understand or even read this recipes.

Roasted Giant Fish (I want to call it Lapu lapu but it didn't turn red so am really not sure about the name of the fish - I suppose our point is, it can be any fish!)

What ingredients I used: 
3+Kilo fish - big, enormous, colossal fish is not a requirement, size of fish is totally up to you.
Olive oil

4 whole garlic bulbs
finger chillies
potato
slices of lemons
dill
salt and pepper to taste
( you can add parsley and lemon grass if you have the patience to buy these things unlike me!)

Prepare the fish. Make 3-4 diagonal cuts or slits on the body of the fish, season with salt and pepper and stuff some thin lemon slices and dill into the cuts.

Prepare the "aromatics" bed. Saute the ingredients in the olive oil and place the ingredients mixture in the big roasting dish. Drizzle additional olive oil in the bed as you wish.

aromatic bed

with the fish - i know, we got too big fish; next time we'll get something smaller

Put in the oven for 30 minutes each side. And serve hot. For Pinoy, serve with rice. For Turks, serve with the potato and other ingredients in the aromatics bed as side dish.

Roasted Garlic

The roasted garlic is a meal in itself. Cihangir loved it - wished I could have included more whole garlic bulbs. So next time, smaller fish and more garlic bulbs for us.


Afiyet Olsun!

Roasted Fish