Fish - “Marinade” or Fish under “Marinade”
INGREDIENTS:
= 2 lb. (1 kg) Cod filet (or any other white fish)
= 5-6 yellow onions
= 5-6 large carrots
= 1-2 tablespoons tomato paste
= 10 black peppercorns
= Freshly ground black pepper
= 1 teaspoon salt
= 2-3 tablespoons flour to cover fish before frying
= Olive oil to fry fish
= 1-2 bay leaves
COOKING:
1. “Marinade”: I always start cooking the marinade first, since it takes a relatively long time to cook it.
Slice the onions in thin half-moons.
Heat the olive oil in a large flat-bottom frying pan, add all sliced onions and sauté until golden – about 5 minutes (don’t fully cook them yet).
Peel the fresh carrots and grate them on large grater. Add the grated carrots and peppercorns to the onions and keep sautéing until carrots are soft.
Move the carrots with onions to one side of the frying pan. On freed space, put tomato paste and cook it, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes. Cooking of the tomato paste will take away its sour taste and will intensify the tomato sweetness.
Mix the carrots with tomato paste well.
Add ½ cup of water, salt, and bay leaves.
Cover the frying pan and sauté the carrots over a low heat until it absorbed all liquid but still very moist so the fish could be soaked in it. Remove the bay leaves.
2. Cooking the fish: Cut the Cod on 1-inch-thick individual pieces. Add salt and pepper.
Cover with flour every piece of fish and put them on the frying pan in hot olive oil. Fry the fish on both sides until golden and crunchy.
3. Putting the fish into the “Marinade”: In a serving dish with high sides put a layer of marinade ½ inch thick.
Next layer is the fried fish. On top of it – marinade ½ inch thick.
The number of layers will depend on the quantity of your fish and the size of your serving dish. Minimal number of layers is 3: marinade-fish-marinade. The top and the bottom layer should be marinade.
Put the dish with fish-marinade in the fridge for 3-4 hours to let the marinade soak through the fish.
4. You can serve the fish—marinade in the same dish or you can cut it on individual portions and serve them in smaller individual dishes.
