Life is full of surprises. Even at the fish shop.

I swear, I never thought I would say this, but yesterday when I went to the fish shop, the FSL was actually nice and even more shocking, she was helpful!

Insert gasps of shock here.

Pan-Roasted Bream with a Quick Crispy Fennel Salad

I went asking for bream and I thought on this occasion that I might have some success in actually getting the fish that I set out to buy, but alas no. The FSL said she didn’t have fillets of bream.

Now normally, that would be the end of the conversation, but to my surprise, she actually offered alternatives and we then got into a conversation about bream and if it was available in Australia (which it is), but that they didn’t have any today (because it wasn’t up for auction at the markets that day), that it is quite a tasty fish (and also comes in different colours and sizes) and that snapper, barramundi or blue eye cod would be the best substitutes. So then we talked about how I was cooking it and she said I should go with the snapper. Can you imagine? A helpful FSL. Of course, I am a week out from the end of the experiment, which is poetic really…

I scored the skin of the fish fillets and rubbed in dried chilli fakes, S&P, crushed fennel seeds and olive oil. Then I pan fried them on medium heat for five minutes skin side down and another four minutes the other side.

Served up with a salad of finely sliced fennel, marjoram leaves, lemon juice, oil and balsamic vinegar.

Mum loved it and also commented afterwards, when checking out the book, that the salad looked exactly like the picture.

I know it’s sad and I promise that I am taking more away from what I’ve done than this, but I still get a real kick out of the meals that most closely resemble the photos in the book. It just feels good when they look like the picture. Such a kid.

Xx

PS – marjoram is quite a weird herb and even though I’ve used fresh marjoram quite a bit during the experiment (Jamie loves it – apparently it’s a fave with Italians), tonight was the first time I really noticed the flavour. And it tasted like washing up detergent. But not in a bad way. Weird.