Living in Castelnuovo Berardenga now where there are two little supermarkets, fresh fish will be a good reason to go to Siena.
Ottolenghi’s last book, Simple, is amazing. The ovenbaked rice with caramalized tomatoes and mackerel filet with pistachio and cardamom seem a wonderful combination.
Put 500 grams of cherry tomatoes, 6 chopped garlic cloves, 1 chopped red onion, 2 cinnamon sticks in a oven dish of approx 20/20. Add a large drizzle of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, some salt and pepper. Bake in the oven at 200° for approx 30 mins. After 30 mins, spread 120 grams of basmati rice (for 2p) on the tomatoes. Add 250 ml of boiling water. Cover the dish with aluminium foil. Put back in the oven at 220° for approx 20-30 mins.
In the meanwhile, grind the internal seeds of 6 cardamom pods in the mortar. Mix with some salt. Season 6 small mackerel filets with the herbal mixture. Put the filets on baking paper with the skin upwards. Spread a little drizzle of olive oil.
Remove the rice from the oven. Allow to rest for approx 10 mins. Put the fish in the oven for approx 5-10mins.
Mix the juice and zeste of 1 lime, 1 table spoon of grinded roasted pistachio, a small amount of grated fresh ginger, 1 table spoons of chopped fresh basil (coriander would be the best), 1 finely chopped chili pepper and a little drizzle of our own olive oil.
PS no cream for us today, so our recipe is a little different than the one in the book of Ottolenghi
Doc V's Healthy Kitchen 