Samak Tarator

Instructions

1. Season the fish with salt and bake in foil (see To Cook Fish in Foil, at below).
2. For the sauce, soak the bread in water and squeeze dry.
3. Put it in the food processor with the pine nuts, lemon juice, garlic, a little salt and pepper, and enough oil to have a cream the consistency of mayonnaise.
4. Another way of making the sauce is to use fish stock instead of the 1/2 cup oil.
5. For a party dish, choose a large, delicate fish such as sea bass, hake, catfish, or salmon.
6. Have it skinned and filleted and put the fillets together in a large piece of foil.
7. Cook as described in To Cook Fish in Foil, at below.
8. Make 23 times the quantity of tarator sauce.
9. Serve the fish cold, covered with the sauce, with the head and tail in place.
10. The fish is usually decorated with a crisscross pattern, using fried pine nuts or flaked almonds.
11. Alternative garnishes are: lemon slices, flat-leaf parsley, sliced green pickles, olives, radishes, and pieces of pimento.
12. In many Middle Eastern countries, home cooks used to send fish to be cooked, wrapped in newspaper, at the bakers oven.
13. Now they cook it in foil.
14. In this way the fish is steamed in its own juice and the flesh remains moist.
15. It can be a whole large fish, or the fillets arranged in the shape of a fish with the headif you want it for the presentationwrapped separately.
16. Brush a large sheet of foil generously with extra-virgin olive oil.
17. Place the fish or fillets in the middle and sprinkle lightly with salt.
18. Wrap in a loose parcel, twisting the foil edges together to seal it.
19. Bake at 450F since the packet is sealed, there is no danger of even a fillets drying out.
20. The cooking time depends on the size of the fish.
21. Test for doneness for a large fish after about 30 minutes.
22. Cut down to the backbone at the thickest part and check that the flesh flakes away from the bone and has turned opaque right through.
23. Fillets might be ready after 1520 minutes.
24. Serve the fish hot or cold (let it cool in the foil) accompanied by a sauce.