It’s another healthy day at Casa de la Vida and today I deviate a bit from the normal bowls of happiness because we have fish on the menu. A delicious sea bream with baked green beans and carrots from the oven!
If I have to be very honest I admit I’m not a fish person, but Luis and my dad certainly are. So I like to prepare fish for them, and my father always thinks that is so clever. He literally calls me someone who doesn’t like fish, but who likes to cook it very well. And I think that is a very sweet compliment.
I think that a person who likes to cook and also wants to be able to cook for everyone, should be able to cook everything, should have tasted everything and also appreciate that others like to eat it! But that is my opinion. I like some fish and shellfish, but I just don’t like to eat it. And this sea bream is really delicious, even I eat it!
Why did I choose a fish from the oven? Because it is tasty and super easy to make. And in Spain, fish is cheaper than meat, even chicken. So if I had to choose between fish and chicken, I would go for fish. I think my French family would rather serve a turkey from the oven than fish at Christmas, since a turkey can feed a family and a fish has less ‘meat’. But it’s not that difficult to put a few sea bream in the oven, is it?
As a child I only liked anchovies, calamari rings, fish stick and salmon from the oven. That’s why my mother often gave me the old-fashioned cod liver oil spoon. But as a child I grew out of this chapter with only breaded fish and started to eat more fish. But I’ll talk about that another time! Now for the recipe, otherwise I can keep writing for hours.
Ingredients
We assume half a sea bream per person
- 1 sea bream
- 500 gr Green beans
- carrots
- olive oil
- garlic, chopped
- garlic powder
- honey
- salt, pepper, thyme
- butter
Preparation
In less than 1 hour you have a delicious fish from the oven, but where do you start? Buy a fish that has already been cleaned. No one wants to lovingly gut and scrub the scales off a fish, except people who have a lot of time of their own! Then you clean the green beans and carrots. We have not done that here because we try to do zero waste and therefore do not want to throw away pieces of vegetables, but many people would not like it that way. So this is a choice you have to make yourself.
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Bring a pan with plenty of water to the boil and add salt. Clean the carrots and green beans. Brush the carrots with olive oil, honey and thyme. Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and let the carrots soften in the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Add the green beans to the boiling water and let them blanch for 1 to 5 minutes. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 3 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan with the garlic. Remove the green beans from the water and drain them in a colander. Run cold water over it and drain the beans completely. Add them to the frying pan and let the green beans fry on low heat. Add salt and pepper, taste it and add more garlic, salt and pepper to taste.
Cut a lemon into thin slices. cut two slices on the side of the sea bream and push a slice of lemon into each slice. Rub the fish with olive oil, salt and pepper, and garlic powder and place the fish on a baking tray that is also lined with parchment paper. The fish is put in the oven for 15 minutes. Flip it over after 10 minutes if it starts to brown slightly. The skin of the fish on the underside may not stay intact when turned over. Don’t want to turn the fish over because you want the fish to stay beautiful? Then leave the fish in the oven a little longer.
Grab a serving dish and spoon the carrots and green beans on top. Carefully remove your fish from the oven and place it on the bed of carrots and green beans. Serve this sea bream with fish knives, half a lemon or mandarin, and fresh olive oil!
Voilà, a tasty and quick fish from the oven on a bed of tasty vegetables!
The result
The fish recipe actually consists of loose directions from my father-in-law. Sometimes we call him when we don’t know how to prepare something and he gives us tips. My father-in-law, Pepe, is a genius in the kitchen. I also miss the times when I cooked with him, as we can now see each other less because of the corona virus measures.
But the green beans recipe comes from my mother. I can remember that we often ate ‘Haricots vert a l’ail’ at home. I love green beans, butter and garlic, so you can’t mishap with this recipe … Literally!
And the carrots from the oven is something I do very often. I often make vegetables in the oven and then dip some in the honey. That’s what my father often calls me: the honey queen, haha!
As always I am curious about what you like to eat, which types of fish do you like to eat and how do you prepare them? Did you make this recipe or did you make a wonderful tasty addition? Let me know!
