Oven Roasted Daurade with Sweet & Sour Vegetables

As a consultant I spend most of my time working at client sites but this week I was between assignments and found myself in our office on the other side of Luxembourg. Luckily it is located very near to a large Delhaize grocery store. What a treat. The store is well designed and carries a great selection of products including enticing produce, fish, seafood and meats. When I saw the daurade royale I knew that I had to make a favourite of mine, Oven Roasted Daurade with Sweet and Sour Vegetables.

Daurade (sea bream) is a fish from the Mediterranean that comes in several different varieties but the ones I have seen most often in France are royale, rose and gris. It first came to my attention at my Paris marché because the daurade rose reminded me of red snapper which I loved at first bite in Cancun many years ago.


Oven Roasted Sea Bream with Sweet and Sour Vegetables
Serves 2

2 – 400 g (14 oz) sea bream or snapper, cleaned and scaled
30 mL (2 Tbsp) fish sauce*
30 mL (2 Tbsp) oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 mL (1/4 tsp) ground ginger
Pinch of ground chile pepper
30 mL (2 Tbsp) brown sugar
30 mL (2 Tbsp) white wine vinegar
30 mL (2 Tbsp) fish sauce
1 yellow pepper, cut lengthwise into strips
4 small carrots, julienned
60 mL (1/2 cup) water

Make 3 or 4 diagonal slits in both sides of the fish and brush with fish sauce. Heat oven to 200°C (400°F).  Heat half of the oil in an ovenproof dish, add fish and roast for 20 minutes, turning halfway through cooking. Fish is done when flesh separates easily from the bones.
Heat remaining oil in a saucepan, add garlic, ginger and chile powder; stirring until fragrant. Add sugar, vinegar and fish sauce; stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the vegetables, turn down heat, cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are just tender.
Serve fish with vegetables.

* Fish sauce goes by the name of nouc mâm in Vietnamese and nam pla in Thai.