Roast Fish and Vegies / A Winter Warmer
by Lynn Bain

WITH Winter well and truly here, most of us long for warm filling foods such as a good old roast. In this month's Cooking Corner I’ll show you how to cook a whole roasted fish and vegetables. I'm using a whole bream, which is a beautifully flavoured fish.

Ingredients

• 1 whole bream, about 1kg
• 2 leeks, washed and roughly chopped
• 100gms butter
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• good pinch of saffron threads
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
• 4-6 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 cm thick slices
• 1 x 440gm tin Ardmona tomato pieces
• 1/2 cup white wine

Procedure

• Scale and gut the bream, making sure the gut cavity is thoroughly clean. Cut through the skin of the bream a couple of times on each side to allow the flavour of the vegetables and wine to penetrate the flesh. Cutting also relaxes the skin and stops the bream curling up when cooking.

• Heat the butter in a flameproof baking dish and add the leeks, garlic, saffron and thyme leaves. Cook over a gentle heat, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes. As the leeks cook they release a liquid which will combine with the melted butter to deliciously poach the leeks and release the flavour and colour of the saffron.

• Preheat your oven to 180C/350F.

• While the leeks are cooking, add the potato slices to a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. When the water is boiling, remove the pan from the heat and allow the potato slices to cool slightly in the pan.

• Drain the potatoes and add to the roasting dish with the leeks. Tumble the potato slices gently to coat with the liquid in the pan. Pour the undrained tin of tomato pieces over the top of the potato and leek mixture.

• Place the bream on top of the vegetables. Pour the white wine over the fish, cover the roasting pan with either a lid or alfoil that has been securely tucked around the dish.

• Allow the bream and vegetables to roast for about 30 minutes, depending on the size of the fish. To test whether the fish is cooked, insert a wooden skewer into the thickest part of the fish. It should meet just a little resistance, keeping in mind that the bream will continue to cook for a few minutes after it has been removed from the oven.

To serve, remove the fish from the top of the vegetables. Place a generous amount of the vegies on individual plates with a portion of the roasted bream on top. Spoon some of the golden juices over the top of the fish and vegetables.