A Dinner First

The tradition here at our house is to have seafood for Christmas Eve dinner.  It's also typical to try new recipes so 2013 was no exception.  Sarah read and watched a video on NYTimes about baking a whole fish.  Emily had Meyer lemons ripe from her little tree so the stage was set to bake a fish and use the lemons for an accompanying side dish of lemon risotto.  

Christmas Eve morning the three of us ventured out to the Lotte Plaza, an Asian grocery store because we knew that it would have a large assortment of whole fish and we weren't disappointed.  A fellow shopper was there buying a whole fish that he planned to stuff with crabmeat.  His advice was to look at the fish eyes.  Clear=fresh.  Cloudy=not fresh.  The choice for us was between a sea trout and a striped bass/rockfish. The former had cloudy eyes so it was rejected in favor of a 4 lb. rockfish.  The fish was cleaned and gutted for us there at the store.

Sarah and Emily took charge of the preparation.  I was the photographer.

Herbs: rosemary & sage from the garden; Emily's Meyer lemons in background and sliced lemons foreground for fish; broccoli and cauliflower florets ready to be roasted.

Rinsing the fish.

Just fits on the pan.

Salt & pepper first.

Stuff with lemon slices and herbs.

Drizzle on olive oil.

In the oven roasting for 35 minutes.

It's ready.

And we are ready to eat it.  Fish servings plated and we'll pass the lemon risotto, mushrooms and roasted vegetables.

It was delicious.  A new first in this household for these cooks.