Recipe - Fish Stuffed With Fresh Herbs (Mahi-Ye Tu Por Ba Sabzi)

1 lg Fish (sea bass, salmon,
rockfish) or 6 thick
fillets of flounder or
orange roughy, about 6
pounds total, cleaned and
scaled
2 teaspoon Salt
3 tablespoon Olive oil
2 Cloves garlic, peeled and
crushed
One half cup Chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoon Chopped fresh tarragon
4 Scallions, chopped
1 tablespoon Chopped fresh coriander
One fourth cup Chopped fresh mint or
2 tablespoon Dried
1 cup Finely ground walnuts
One fourth cup Dried barberries, cleaned,
soaked for 20 minutes in
water and drained*
One fourth cup Raisins
One fourth cup Fresh lime juice
One fourth teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
One half teaspoon Ground saffron, dissolved in
2 tablespoons hot water
1 Lime or
2 Seville oranges, cut in half

Recipes from Persian Cooking For A Healthy Kitchen

1. Rinse fish in cold water. Pat dry with paper towel and rub inside and
out with 1 teaspoon salt.

2. In a nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and sauté garlic,
parsley, tarragon, scallions, coriander, and mint; add walnuts, barberries,
raisins, lime juice, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Mix well and remove from
heat.

3. Preheat oven to 400°F. Fill the fish with the herb stuffing; pin the
cavity shut. Lay the fish in a greased baking dish. Dot the fish with the
remaining oil and saffron water; place in the oven. Bake for 20 to 30
minutes (depending on the size of the fish), until the fish flakes easily
with a fork. Baste occasionally with pan juices.

4. Arrange the fish on a serving platter and garnish with lime or Seville
orange slices.

5. Serve with Saffron Steamed Plain Basmati Rice (chelow) and fresh herbs.
Note: If using fish fillets, place the stuffing in the center of a greased
baking dish. Cover it with fish and pour the saffron water, oil, and juice
over the fish. Continue with step 4.

*Clean sand from dried barberries (zereshk) by removing their stems and
placing barberries in a colander. Place colander in a large container full
of cold water and allow barberries to soak for 20 minutes. The sand will
settle to the bottom of the container. Take the colander out of the
container and run cold water over the barberries; drain and set aside. If
using fresh barberries, remove stems and rinse with cold water.

Posted to JEWISHFOOD digest V97 #045 by Daniella De Picciotto
daniela@dialdata.com.br on Feb 11, 1997.