NLAt the moment, our red sea bream mainly comes from the waters around Iceland and Norway. It belongs to the scorpionfish family (the scorpionfish, or rascasse, is a relative) and, with its pink-red color, spines, and large eyes, it really stands out. The red sea bream we supply is caught using the longline method—one of the preferred fishing methods. The lines can be as long as 4 kilometers, and the fish are brought on board one by one.
Red Sea Bream in the Kitchen
Icelandic red sea bream has a firm texture and a fairly neutral taste. Scaling red sea bream is a challenging and time-consuming task, and you can even injure yourself in the process. We are happy to take that work off your hands. We supply both whole red sea bream (for example, scaled and trimmed) and fillets. The fillets are available as desired—with or without skin, scaled or boneless. We also offer back portions, with skin and scaled.
With its firm flesh, red sea bream can handle almost any preparation, such as grilling, frying, steaming, and stewing. And thanks to its neutral flavor, you can pair it with all kinds of vegetables—currently, for instance, with winter vegetables. Classic combinations include those with fennel, whether stewed or served raw with a dressing. It also pairs well with Provençal vegetables like eggplant, zucchini, and tomato.
Red Sea Bream with Zhug
As inspiration, we have an Arabesque dish featuring red sea bream, adorned with a beautiful grid of choux pastry. In this dish, we use ‘zhug’ (also written as ‘shug’), a sauce made from red or green chili peppers, coriander, and garlic, originating from Yemeni cuisine.
Red Sea Bream Covered with Zhug Paste, Accompanied by Parsnip Puree, Leek, and a Choux Pastry Grid with Sesame
- Trim the red sea bream fillets neatly.
- Make ‘zhug’ from green pepper, coriander, garlic, and olive oil, and spread it on one side of the fillets.
- Prepare choux pastry batter and add some turmeric and Marrakesh spices.
- Pipe a beautiful grid of thin lines from the choux batter, sprinkle sesame seeds and coarse sea salt over it, and bake until done.
- Blend a puree of parsnip, butter, pepper, and salt.
- Gently stew the leek with some vegetable broth, butter, and turmeric.
- Cook the red sea bream fillets in the oven.
- Plate: place the parsnip puree on the plate, lay the red sea bream fillet with the zhug side facing up on top, spoon the leek next to it, and lay the choux pastry grid over it. Optionally garnish with some beet leaves.
