The Time I Cooked Myself a Meal

"Filetto di Pesce con Timo, Rosmarino e Basilico" with Arroz Negra con Aceita de Oliva

Yum! Yum! Yum!

It was my first time and it didn't hurt.  I was happy and contented.  It was a lot of fun!  I  think I'm going to do it again.  I'm hooked.  LOL!  I was talking about cooking, okay?  Would you like to learn how I made this delightful dish?

It was the very first time that I cooked myself a meal.  I remember helping out my mother in the kitchen when I was young.  Some slicing and some dicing.  I just love seeing the ingredients and tasting the finished product.  I never really paid attention to how the food was cooked.  And that was a mistake.  After a few decades, here I am now at the mercy of take-outs and deliveries.  Home cooked meals are courtesy of my sweetie but there were times that I am left alone all by my little self.  So, there's no recourse but to cook for myself a meal.  Ahhh, good luck to me…

After my sister came back from her vacation in Australia, she told me countless stories of how she and her husband went on fishing trips around Sydney and Melbourne.  She would recount how tasty those freshly caught fish were, and how it was so easy and simple to cook them.  Inspired by her sumptuous stories, I made this simple-to-prepare food... all by myself!  (I consider it as my invention since I did not consult any cook book.  Promise!)

My sister said she misses her fishing rods.
I don't think she could catch any from this  position.  She's just practicing her throw here.  LOL!

Here's the recipe.  You have to prepare the following: 

Ingredients and material/s:

200 grams white fish (e.g. cream dory)

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

2 pieces of red tomato

4 slices of lemon

1 piece of small ginger 

thyme

rosemary

holy basil

salt and pepper

aluminum foil

Preparation:

On an aluminum foil (large enough to hold the 200-gram fish and the other ingredients), place the fish and pour the 2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.  Cut the tomato in half and place it beside the fish.  Place also the ginger (cut into small pieces) and 2 slices of lemon beside the fish.  Sprinkle the herbs - rosemary, thyme, and holy basil onto the fish.  Dash a bit of salt and pepper.  (I actually do not use salt but if you want, you can add iodized salt.)  Close the aluminum foil and make sure that it is tightly sealed (where no liquid could come out or get in).

The whole preparation should not take more than 5 minutes.

Cooking:

Place the foil containing the ingredients inside a steamer.  Leave it for 10 minutes.  You can use an oven instead of a steamer.  If you use an oven, a shorter period of time is needed.  About 8 minutes will do the trick.

Plating:

Open the foil.  Voila!  You have for yourself a mouth-watering fish infused with all the flavors of those herbs and spices.  Take the fish and put it on a plate.  Do not take anything else from the foil.  The tomato and lemon would be mushy hence, unpleasant to eat.  The ginger is only for flavoring (and effective in taking out the fishy smell).  We won't be eating that.  Cut a piece of fresh tomato in half and put it beside the cooked fish.  Put also 2 slices of fresh lemon.  Dash a bit of holy basil.

Serve the fish with rice.  In my case, I love black rice.   Here's a tip.  Mix the black rice with extra virgin olive oil.  It would enhance the taste of the rice.

I just love Black Rice.  Here's my link to my post about black rice - Eat Healthy, Eat Black Rice.

There you have it - fish fillet with rosemary, thyme, and holy basil served with black rice with extra virgin olive oil.   You can try this very easy dish.  Let me know how it went, okay?