Dorade Royal – gilthead seabream from the pan
Dorade Royal, the gilthead seabream...
… somehow tastes like off to Italy, off to the sea.
It is a terrific food fish, has firm, tasty meat, is healthy, rich in trace elements and has a great Mediterranean flair:
Stuffed with fresh herbs, tomatoes and limes, dorado is one of my favorite fish.
Preparation time
10 min
Frying time
10 -15 min.
Servings
for 2 persons
Kitchen know-it-all
Purchase and storage of fresh fish
Purchasing
The dorade tastes best when it is fresh. So off to the fishmonger you trust.
Here’s what you should look for when buying:
- The gilthead should be almost odorless and at most smell of the sea (the older the fish, the more it smells of fish).
- A shiny, firm and elastic surface testifies to freshness.
- The eyes should be bulging, shiny and translucent. The duller, flatter and grayer the eyes, the older the gilthead.
- The gills should be bright red and shiny inside. The more yellowish or brownish, the more resolved the outline, the longer the gilthead is out of the water.
- Press firmly on the skin with your index finger (of course, if your fishmonger allows it 😉 ).
Fresh meat is firm and resumes its original shape immediately after release. - At the dealer, the fish should be in the display instead of on the ice, if possible. Thus, it is cooled evenly.
Storage
The wisdom holds that the best place to store fresh fish is in the pan!
However, if you find yourself in the embarrassment of having to store the dorado for a few days until you are ready to cook it, have your fishmonger shrink-wrap it. Make sure that the cold chain is not interrupted – i.e. that the poor fish does not get too warm in the car!
Refrigerators are generally too warm to store fish and shellfish properly. They should be stored much colder – namely between -2 °C and 0 °C. So fresh fish in the refrigerator also last only one day.
You could turn down the temperature in the refrigerator, but this could in turn be the undoing for other foods.
(And it also eats up a lot of power unnecessarily …).
Remedy: Put ice cubes in a bowl, place the fish between them and close the bowl with the lid.
So you can store the fish in a normal refrigerator for one or two days longer.
Ingredients
- 2 giltheads (300 g each)
- 4 stalks rosemary
- 4 stalks thyme
- 4 stalks dill
- 6 leaves sage
- 4 small cocktail or vine tomatoes
- 2 spring onions
- 1 lime
- 2 cloves garlic (fresh)
- 4 tablespoons olive oil (extra virgin)
- 1 tablespoon flour
- Salt & Pepper
To match …
… quite wonderful crispy rosemary potatoes and the delicious balsamic tomatoes.
Both are prepared quite simply in the oven.
All three recipes together make a great Mediterranean dish:
For me, always like a vacation by the sea.
Preparation
Oh mio dio – oggi è il giorno del pesce !!!!
Our Mediterranean excursion already starts with the preparation:
Spread the herbs on a cutting board and chop them coarsely. Immediately, wonderful aromas spread and it’s off to the south.
Cut garlic cloves, green onions and tomatoes into small pieces.
Cut off a quarter of the lime and cut into wedges. Set aside.
Cut the rest of the lime into small pieces. I remove the peel because it can quickly give off a bitter taste when cooked.
Put everything in a bowl, add salt, pepper, a little olive oil and mix well.
Stuffing for dorades: Herbs, green onions, tomato, garlic and lime.
Thoroughly wash the dorades inside and out, pat dry with kitchen paper.
On both sides, cut the skin 2-3 times diagonally with a knife, so that the fish can cook better.
Salt the dorades inside and out.
Fill with the herb-tomato mixture and seal with a kitchen pin.
Flour the giltheads (rub them with flour).
Dust the gilthead with flour and rub.
Put olive oil in a pan and heat (full blast !!!).
Add the dorades to the pan. I take one pan for each dorado – if yours is big enough, then both may go in.
On both sides approx. 4 to 5 min. fry, being careful when turning.
Reduce heat (medium heat). Fry the giltheads for 10-15 minutes (depending on size), turning 3-4 times.
While frying, regularly baste the gilthead with the (now flavored) oil.
When is the gilthead cooked?
The gilthead is cooked when you can pull out the dorsal fin very easily.
Carefully remove dorades from pan with a large spatula so they do not break.
Place on a warmed plate, add the lime wedges.
You have even more desire for sun, south, sea…?
Serve with the roasted Dorade Royal crispy rosemary potatoes and delicious balsamic tomatoes.
Buon appetito.
