chermoula baked snapper

Chermoula is spice blend and marinade from North Africa, used mainly in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.

Chermoula is flavoured mainly with coriander, garlic, chilli and spices and adds an excellent fresh kick to any meal.It’s usually served with fish and seafood, as I have done here with a whole snapper.

Leftover chermoula can be mixed with yoghurt or tahini to make a sauce for other meals, and there’s nothing stopping you using it on veggies and meat.

Chermoula
Recipe by Neil Perry. Makes about 1 cup.
Ingredients:
½ bunch Italian parsley (roughly chopped)
½ bunch coriander (roughly chopped)
2 Spanish onions (peeled and roughly chopped)
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout
1½ teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 fresh lemons (juiced)
Olive oil
Method:
1. Simply place all ingredients into a tall slim stainless steel or firm plastic container (about 2 litre capacity is best) and blend until it is a rough paste with a stick blender (I used a food processor and mortar & pestle).
2. If making the chermoula ahead of time, transfer it to an airtight container and pour a thin layer of olive oil on the top. Seal and place in the fridge.

Chermoula Baked Snapper
Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 2 or 4 as part of buffet.
Ingredients:
1 whole medium sized snapper, cleaned & scaled
½ cup chermoula
6 lemon slices
Natural yoghurt or tahini, to serve
Method:
1. Wash the fish and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Make three small incisions in the side of the fish to allow sauce to permeate.
3. Spread the chermoula all over the fish, including inside the cavity.
4. Stuff the lemon slices inside the fish’s cavity and then wrap fish in foil.
5. Bake in a moderate oven or on hot barbeque for 15-20 minutes or until fish flesh is white and cooked.
6. Serve with natural yoghurt or tahini.

This week our Weekend Herb Blogging host is Zorra from Kochtopf.

Next week I’m going to be hosting WHB, so be sure to email me the links to your herbaceous recipes and posts. I’m looking forward to it!

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes weekend herb blogging whb sauce marinade charmoula chermoula charmoula recipes chermoula recipes coriander recipes marinade recipes spice recipes herb recipes tunisian recipes tunisian food tunisian cuisine north african recipes north african food north african cuisine