Barbecued snapper with peppers

Serves 6 Starters and mains

Sharing  Puglia  Final Internals 55

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Ingredients

  • 1.5–2kg whole snapper, cleaned
  • extra virgin olive oil

For the peppers

  • 60ml olive oil
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 6 assorted peppers, cut into large dice
  • 400g canned peeled tomatoes, quartered
  • handful pitted black olives
  • 2 bay leaves
  • pinch sugar
  • 80ml red wine vinegar, or more if necessary
  • handful fresh oregano or 1tsp dried oregano
  • handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Method

To make the peppers, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and sauté the onion and whole garlic cloves until soft.

Add the peppers, tomatoes, olives, bay leaves, sugar, red wine vinegar and 100ml water. Cook, covered, for 30 minutes, then add the oregano and parsley. Check the pan and add more water if the peppers and tomato look too dry. (There should always be some liquid in the pan.) Cook for a further 15 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened but are not mushy.

Season the peppers well with salt and freshly ground black pepper and allow to cool. Transfer the peppers to a jar if you want to store it, or serve it at room temperature for up to 1 week.

To prepare the snapper, rinse it inside and out and dry with paper towel. Make 3 diagonal shallow cuts, approximately 1cm deep, in the side of the fish and rub generously with olive oil and salt. Cut one of the lemons into rough wedges and place these in the cavity of the fish. Place a large sheet of foil on a work surface and place a piece of baking paper, the same size as the fish, on top of that.

Preheat a barbecue with a hood to medium. If you want to cook the fish in the oven, preheat it to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6.

Place the fish on the baking paper and wrap the fish, securing the foil around it. Place the fish parcel on the barbecue grill and close the hood. Reduce the heat to low and cook for approximately 20 minutes. Turn the fish over halfway through the cooking time.

Check that the fish is cooked by carefully opening up the parcel and inserting a knife into the flesh, which should be flaky and white. Remove the fish parcel from the barbecue and place it, unwrapped, on a cool baking tray to rest for a few minutes.

Open the parcel and carefully place the fish on a large platter Cut the remaining lemon into wedges, place around the fish and season.

Drizzle the snapper with extra virgin olive oil and serve with the prepared peppers.

Recipes and photographs taken from Sharing Puglia by Luca Lorusso and Vivienne Polak, photography by Alicia Taylor (Hardie Grant, £25).
Sharing  Puglia  Final Internals 55
Recipes and photographs taken from Sharing Puglia by Luca Lorusso and Vivienne Polak, photography by Alicia Taylor (Hardie Grant, £25).

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