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FOOD 12 | SUNDAY • 21 APRIL 2019 maltatoday • 2 Bazuk • Large handful of thyme • 2 sturdy sprigs rosemary • 2 pieces spring garlic • 1 lemon • Large handful of mint • Fennel tops from 1 fennel • ½ fennel bulb • 1/3 onion • 40g raisins • Chili. to taste • Caper leaves or 40g capers • Olive oil, to taste • Salt, to taste • ½ orange 1. Ask your fishmonger to gut and scale the Bazuk. At home, with a knife, make a small incision in the stomach cavity to make it a little bigger. Sea- son the inside with salt and olive oil and stuff them both with the thyme, spring garlic, half of the mint, fennel tops and a slice of lemon each. 2. Remove the leaves from half way down the rosemary sticks. Carefully, using a knife, sharpen the ends of the sticks tapering them to a point so that you end up with two rosemary skewers. Place the fish on a board side by side so that the belly of one is touching the spine of the other. Use the skewers to thread them through the belly of one, into the belly of the other coming out at the spine on the top fish. Repeat this process with the other closer to the head. You should end up with both fish threaded next to each other. 3. Put a grill pan onto a very high heat and allow to thoroughly heat up until smoking. Oil the skin of the fish and once hot enough put on the pan to cook. Flip over after 5 minutes. Based on the average size of a Bazuk the whole cooking time should take around 8 minutes but test the flesh on the second side to see if it pulls away from the bone to check for doneness. You can use this same technique on the BBQ. 4. Whilst the fish is cooking put to- gether the salad by finely slicing the fennel and onion. Roughly chop the capers and raisins. Add everything to a bowl. Grate the zest of the halved orange into the bowl and squeeze in the juice. Squeeze in the juice of the remaining lemon. Finely chop the chi- li and add to your taste. Roughly chop the remaining large handful of mint and add to the bowl. Add a liberal amount of olive oil and season with salt to taste. Combine thoroughly. 5. When done, remove the fish from the heat and serve on a rustic wooden board along with a heap of the re- freshing salad. Chargrilled Bazuk (Bronze Bream) with fennel salad CHARLES GRECH Bin 2 Shiraz Mataro 2014 Penfolds, Australia Bin 2 Shiraz Mataro is a classic Penfolds wine, steeped in nineteenth-century tradition. Typically it is a generous medium-bodied wine based on shiraz, but shot with the aromatics and muscular strength of mataro. It's best to drink early, but like many of Penfolds reds can last the distance in the cellar. Bouquet: Scents of black olive and dark black cherry laced with mixed spices/herbs, Dark chocolate notes and a skerrick of liquorice. Palate: Mataro's green tea-leaf characters immediately apparent, as is Mataro's inky/ rubbly palate imprint. Grainy/particulate/powdery tannins throughout. Ditto, barely perceptible oak (some vanillin, crushed biscotti f lavours). Evocative Shiraz fruits and savouriness dominate the mid-palate. Refreshingly medium-bodied, enticingly textured. Food Affinities: veal, roast chicken, planked salmon. Exclusively imported by Charles Grech & Co Ltd Valley Road, Birkikara T: 21 444 400 Fine quality Italian wines of tradition Irpina. Donnachiara, winery located in Montefalcione (Avellino), with its vineyards that stretch along the hills typical of the Irpinia, produces white wines and red wines of high quality including Greco di Tufo, Fiano di Avellino, Taurasi DOCG but also sparkling like Santè Falanghina. Soft crushing of the selected grapes and after that cold decanting of the must fermentation at 57-60°F in steel vats for 15 days. Malolatic fermentation is not done. Full expression of it's territory, the heart of Greco di tufo, with a specific attention to all the factors of maturation of it's aroma's. Nose: Offers fruity flavours of pear, apricot, pineapple and citrus Palate: Smooth, elegant and structured, with good freshness and a great persistence that confirms and amplifies the olfactory sensations. Food Affinities: Perfect with all seafood, pasta with light sauces , white meats and herb cheeses Exclusively imported by Charles Grech & Co. Ltd, Valley Road, Birkirkara T: 2144 4400 Donnachiara Greco di Tufo: DONNACHIARA Gourmet Today and Mediterranean Culinary Academy Debbie Schembri Ingredients Method