Croaker (Ombrina) with vegetables 😁😍 

The baked croaker with vegetables is a second course of fish very light and easy to prepare, come and discover the recipe. Baked croaker with vegetables is a very light and tasty second course. As for the vegetables in this case I have chosen carrots, peppers, onions and potatoes but, if you wish, you can add other vegetables or replace some according to your tastes and their seasonality. It is a very simple dish to prepare and for which few ingredients are needed. If possible, choose a croaker caught, it will have tastier, tonic meats and will be richer in nutrients. 

The croaker is a saltwater fish with fine meat, with a weight that can vary between 600 g and 10 kg. It is typical of the Mediterranean Sea, although it prefers warmer waters such as those of the Red Sea. It lives at a shallow depth near the beaches and is characterized by the presence of a gray horizontal line that runs along the entire back, with streaks ranging from yellow to blue. To accompany your croaker, choose fresh vegetables. If you prefer, you can also cook the croaker in foil. The fillets of this fish are also excellent stewed or as a condiment for pasta. Finally, it is possible to consume the croaker raw in a tartare sauce. A very tasty second course that I can't do without even in summer. Very good and healthy taste that does not boredom and is prepared in a short time.

The secret ingredient of my cooking classes are smiling faces. I’m not just talking about the beaming smiles of – newlyweds on their honeymoon, families, friends or elder couples enjoying their lives together and traveling through Europe. I’m thinking about the big smiles of those producers and market vendors that I had the good luck to meet over the years. Each visit unveils new potential. We begin the day with a coffee, a cappuccino and croissant at the bar, then we move to a firm step towards the market.

The market in Montreal is one of the best in the area for fruit and vegetables, with numerous stalls which have a good selection of local and seasonal produce. At the market we are spoiled: you can also find a food truck with Sicilian specialties, this is where I buy olives, capers and provolone, and one with products from Campania, a must for bread, buffalo mozzarella and ''fior di latte''. Then you reach the fish food truck it is reassuring to choose fish at their stall, they can tell you where it was caught, how to cook it in order to respect the freshness and flavor and, above all, they know how to identify the tastes of your customers, helping you juggle in between preferences and indecisions.

It took me some time to identify the kind of fish I roasted. It is known in Italian as ombrina, and I’ve found that it’s very similar, if not the same, to the croaker fish or drum fish. That’s a problem that happens often when you try to translate the name of a local species, trying to identify also the equivalent fish in another culture and geographical area. Ombrina is in fact a fairly common fish in our sea, it prefers shallow water and sandy shores. It has a high-quality meat, rich in omega 3 and proteins, with a low fat content. If you have no chance to find the ombrina (or croaker) you can replace it with a white fish of similar size, such as sea bream or sea bass. You can also substitute the croaker with a mullet, one of the cheaper fishes, but be careful and ask where it was caught, as it often eats what it finds on the seabed, and sometimes it can have a slightly muddy taste. But let’s get back the recipe. It is roasted with potatoes and zucchini, which then must be cut into small cubes, so that they’ll have the same cooking time as the fish. Cut them into too big chunks and they will remain raw inside, a real shame. Fresh aromas are important as well, as they will melt while roasting, embracing potatoes and zucchini in a hug.

Ingredients

Half a croaker about 600 g

Aromas of Provence

2 cloves of garlic

Salt

Pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

1 red bell pepper

2 potatoes

2 zucchini

200 g cherry tomatoes

100 g olives

Cooking instructions

Wash the fish and season well with the aromas, garlic, salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil. Wash and cut the vegetables into small pieces and season with salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil. Place the fish and vegetables on the baking tray covered with baking paper. Bake at 200 C degrees in a preheated oven, ventilated program for 35 minutes. Add the olives and cherry tomatoes cut in half, 10 minutes before finishing cooking. Enjoy your meal!