Levantine cuisine · Fish & Seafood

Samak bi Zeitoun

Whole fish baked with green olives, lemon slices and olive oil on a bed of onions.

Ingredients · for 4 servings

• 2 sea bream (about 500 g each, ready to cook)
• 150 g green olives
• 2 lemons
• 2 onions
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• Salt, pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C top/bottom heat; wash the sea bream inside and out, pat dry and score three diagonal cuts down to the bone on each side.
2. Season the fish inside and out with salt, pepper and the ground coriander and rub with 2 tbsp olive oil.
3. Cut the onions into thin rings, mix with 2 tbsp olive oil and the sliced garlic and lay as a bed in a baking dish.
4. Place the fish on top, scatter the olives around, cut one lemon into thin slices and tuck into the incisions and the belly cavities.
5. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and bake for 22–25 min. until the dorsal fin pulls out easily and the flesh at the bone is white and juicy.
6. Sprinkle with roughly chopped parsley, drizzle with the juice of the second lemon and serve with the onion-olive juices from the dish.