Samke Harra (Lebanese Spicy Baked Fish)

Ingredients

• 800 g cod fillet, skinless and in thick pieces
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 6 garlic, peeled
• 50 g fresh cilantro, leaves and tender stalks
• 2 fresh chilli, deseeded
• 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 60 g walnuts
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• 150 g tahini
• 5⅓ tbsp lemon juice
• 1 dl water, cold
• 30 g pine nuts

Method

1. 1.

   Season and oil the cod — Heat the oven to 200°C. Season the cod on both sides with the salt and black pepper, rub it with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and lay the pieces slightly apart in an oiled baking dish.

2. 2.

   Part-bake the fish — Bake the fish for 10 to 12 minutes, until it has just turned opaque and the flakes begin to part when nudged with a fork. It will finish cooking under the sauce, so pull it while it still looks slightly underdone.

3. 3.

   Blitz the herb and walnut paste — Meanwhile put the garlic, cilantro, chillies, red pepper, walnuts, ground coriander, ground cumin and chilli flakes in a food processor with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and pulse to a coarse, damp green-red paste — texture, not purée.

4. 4.

   Fry off the paste — Fry the paste in the remaining olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring, until it darkens, the oil separates at the edges and the smell turns sweet and toasty rather than raw and grassy.

5. 5.

   Loosen the tahini — Whisk the tahini with the lemon juice in a bowl — it will seize and go stiff, which is exactly right — then loosen it with the cold water, a splash at a time, until it pours like thin cream. Stir it into the pan off the heat.

6. 6.

   Sauce the fish and finish in the oven — Spoon the sauce over and around the fish so the pieces are half buried, and return the dish to the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until the surface is set, blistered in places and just beginning to crack at the edges.

7. 7.

   Scatter the pine nuts — Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan until pale gold and scatter them over the hot dish. Leave it to stand for a few minutes before serving — the sauce thickens as it settles and lifts cleanly with the fish.