scallion baked seabass

wife & i had a really good scallions baked flat fish head 葱焖鸦片鱼头 at old jesse in shanghai tian ping road on 28.10.2017. will write about that later.

i decided to experiment the method using a cheap seabass on 4.11.2017. ^^

trying to replicate the incredible 葱焖鸦片鱼头 at old jesse. haha!

seabass was very cheap like 2 for S$7.90 at sheng shiong. seabas meat a bit powdery not so firm & has a bit of mud taste, so usually cooked with spicy bean sauce or i was thinking also experimenting the thai style pla neung manao… but that later. 🙂

this evening i decided to test out the scallions baked preparation.

i cleaned the seabass with salt & stood it on a colander to dry.

i had about 3/4 of a packet of 90cts scallions, so i placed those 1/2 below the fish & 1/2 on top, cut some long pieces, & used a bamboo pick to hold them in place over the fish.

then i added 2 tbsp olive oil, 3 tbsp light soy sauce. i also added chopped garlic (would have added sliced ginger but didn’t have today), and added sliced shallots, 2 chilli padi. also squeezed juice from 1/2 lime over the fish.

then into a 250degC oven for 10minutes. 🙂

scallion baked seabass

it came out pretty good.

meat was tender, flavourful, just cooked the right timing 火候. 🙂

& dipped a bit in the 1/2 dried up sauce very nice…

scallion baked seabass 

so result was pretty good so far as seabass went.

steaming will accentuate the soft meat texture & mud taste so moderating with a spicy bean sauce is better than simple hong kong steam,

baking/roasting & frying help to make the meat more firm & the scallion, garlic, shallot flavouring help to balance/musk the mud taste.

scallion baked seabass

result was not fantastic, but it was pretty good, and a good alternative preparation to steaming.

different & of course no comparison at all with old jesse’s 葱焖鸦片鱼头 ..that was a flat fish head with bone texture similar to salmon head & like having 3x the scallions i had…(that will make the scallions cost as much as my seabass lol!)..

anyway no plans for moment but may try this on a slamon head sometime if i get hold of a cheap salmon head to experiment.

c.h.e.f andy

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Ingredients:

• 1x500g seabass
• 1xpacket of spring onions (scallions)
• 3 tsp chopped garlic
• 2cm julienned ginger
• 3 shallots sliced
• 2 chilli padi
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• juice squeezed from 1/2 lime

Directions:

1. clean seabass with salt & stand it on a colander to dry.
2. place 1/2 of  a packet of scallions below the fish & 1/2 on top, cut some long pieces, & use bamboo picks to hold them in place over the fish.
3. add 2 tbsp olive oil, 3 tbsp light soy sauce, chopped garlic, julienned ginger, sliced shallots, 2 chilli padi, and juice squeezed from 1/2 lime over the fish.
4. bake in 250degC oven for 10minutes. 🙂