Sea bass with tahini onion sauce
Everything is better with tahini.
In Turkey, fish is usually a very simple affair. A portion sized fish, grilled over charcoal, served with lemon, rocket (arugula), perhaps a few slices of turnip. A delicious way to enjoy fish for sure, but too often, the quality of ingredients or execution is lacking, leaving you with a fish that is overcooked and dry, with no accompaniments to make up for it.
I therefore prefer to look further south when preparing my sea bass or sea bream, the two most common fish in this part of the world.
The recipe I’m sharing with you today is an adaptation of siniyet samak bil tahineh, a Levantine dish of roasted fish smothered in tahini sauce and onions. Another piece of evidence that everything gets better when smothered with tahini.
The dish is usually a one pan affair, with everything roasted in the same dish. Since I often eat with people not as excited about tahini as me, I prepared the sauce alongside instead. This way, everyone can decide how much sauce they want to add. I also pan fry the fish rather than roast it, for that crispy skin. I’m therefore not claiming any authenticity, though it does retain the ingredients and flavours of the original.
I use sea bass for this dish, but any white fish fillet will be wonderful here.
The recipe serves 4–6 and assumes everyone wants a generous helping of the delicious sauce. I like serving this with roast potatoes, but rice or lavash bread is another option.
