Cooking it Whole on Christmas Eve:

Grouper

It’s 40 degrees Fahrenheit outside, Christmas Eve morning and you have no idea what to cook for the evening.  I suggest you take a trip to a local market and grab yourself a whole fish, a couple aromatic herbs, saffron and start cooking.  I found myself a Grouper—typically found in the South Atlantic and the Gulf.

Cooking a fish whole does not always extend itself literally.  You can cook it whole in a pot and extract the meat for a fish curry, fry it or steam it whole.  Fish can also be broken apart and cooked in a method appropriate to each part.  I kept the fish fillets and the collarbone to be cooked at the last few minutes of the soup.  I used the bones, which have a lot of meat stuck to them, and the head to develop the base… the oh so deliciously comforting broth.

Taking the Fish Apart

Here is how I did it.

Ingredients:

1 whole grouper (3-4 lbs), cleaned and taken apart

2 fennel bulbs, using only the bulb, julienned

1 leek, chopped only the white part

1 onion chopped

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon of whole peppercorn

1 can of tomato paste

1 tablespoon of sweet paprika, dried ginger, dried Ancho chili

1/2 tablespoon of cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons of honey

2 pinches of saffron

Sauté fresh herbs until caramelized. Then add the fish bones and head with 2 teaspoon of salt.  Add all dried ingredients then deglaze the pan with ¼ cup of anise flavor liquor.  In this case, I have Becherovka (herbal flavor bitter) from Czech Republic in my cupboard, so I used that.  Add 1 gallon of water and bring it to boil.  Add honey, tomato paste, cayenne and saffron and simmer until reduced by half.

Cut the fish fillets to 1-inch strips.  Add them to the reduced broth (which has been strained) for 5 minutes.  Serve with French bread.

Keep warm and wholesome.

Cheers!

Teera