I know for sure that you associate tagine with meat or poultry, aromatic spices, salty lemons, and a Moroccan cookware in which it is cooked (you have a red one in your kitchen, and it is bored, by the way 🙂 ). Tagine makes life incredibly simple: when cooking in it, you don’t need to constantly stand beside your stove and control the cooking process. Don’t let your tagine get bored, try to cook fish in it. Zander with vegetables in tagine is one of my favourite dishes for a delicious evening in good company.
I know for sure that you associate tagine with meat or poultry, aromatic spices, salty lemons, and a Moroccan cookware in which it is cooked (you have a red one in your kitchen, and it is bored, by the way 🙂 ). Tagine makes life incredibly simple: when cooking in it, you don’t need to constantly stand beside your stove and control the cooking process. Don’t let your tagine get bored, try to cook fish in it. Zander with vegetables in tagine is one of my favourite dishes for a delicious evening in good company.- Prep time: 30 minutes, plus 1 hour’s marinating
- Cook time: 30 minutes
- Serves: 8
- Difficulty: medium
- Course: main course
- Cookware: tagine
- Cuisine: French-Moroccan
Ingredients
- 1½ kg zander fillet, or any other lean white fish
- 3 bell peppers
- 1 leek, finely chopped
- 2 medium onions, cut into half rings
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 400 g cherry tomatoes
- 100 g pitted olives
- 125 ml olive oil
- 100 g butter
- 1 bunch of parsley, finely chopped
- salt
For the marinate:
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1½ tsp coarse sea salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 small chili
- ½ tsp paprika
- 3 tbsp fresh coriander
- 3 tbsp fresh parsley
- juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Cooking method
Step 1
Heat the oven to 180˚С. Cut the fish fillet into large pieces. Cut chili into strips. (If you like tagine to be hotter, add the chili seeds.) Grind all the ingredients of the marinade in a mortar, at the end adding lemon juice and oil. Cover the fish with marinade. Mix well and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Step 2
Cover a baking sheet with foil and put the bell peppers on it. Bake for 30-40 minutes in the oven until dark marks appear. Allow to cool, peel, seed, cut into strips.
Step 3
Remove the fish from the refrigerator and pour the marinade into a small bowl. Pour olive oil into a frying pan, add onions and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Add garlic, leeks and simmer for 5 minutes over medium heat. Then add cherry tomatoes, olives, and butter. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Pour the fish marinade into a frying pan with vegetables, add bell pepper, salt, mix well and cook over low heat for another 5 minutes.
Step 4
Put half of the vegetables from the frying pan on the bottom of the tagine, then add the fish, and then the other half of the vegetables. Cover and cook for 30 minutes over low heat without opening the lid. Sprinkle the cooked zander with vegetables with parsley and serve.
My tips and tricks:
One of the reasons not to open the tagine lid while cooking is to keep all the magic of the flavours inside. Open the tagine for the first time in front of the guests after placing it as a centrepiece of the table. While its aromas capture your guests, slowly sprinkle the dish with parsley like a famous magician.
Konstantin Vidoborenko’s wine recommendations:
We need a wine that will emphasize the variety of tastes of tagine: the sweetness of vegetables, the creaminess of butter, the aroma of spices and the freshness of the fish itself. Try Gewürztraminer (white semi-sweet, Alsace). This wine is a real find!
- 1½ kg zander fillet, or any other lean white fish
- 3 bell peppers
- 1 leek, finely chopped
- 2 medium onions, cut into half rings
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 400 g cherry tomatoes
- 100 g pitted olives
- 125 ml olive oil
- 100 g butter
- 1 bunch of parsley, finely chopped
- salt
- For the marinate:
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1½ tsp coarse sea salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 small chili
- ½ tsp paprika
- 3 tbsp fresh coriander
- 3 tbsp fresh parsley
- juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- Heat the oven to 180˚С. Cut the fish fillet into large pieces. Cut chili into strips. (If you like tagine to be hotter, add the chili seeds.) Grind all the ingredients of the marinade in a mortar, at the end adding lemon juice and oil. Cover the fish with marinade. Mix well and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Cover a baking sheet with foil and put the bell peppers on it. Bake for 30-40 minutes in the oven until dark marks appear. Allow to cool, peel, seed, cut into strips.
- Remove the fish from the refrigerator and pour the marinade into a small bowl. Pour olive oil into a frying pan, add onions and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Add garlic, leeks and simmer for 5 minutes over medium heat. Then add cherry tomatoes, olives, and butter. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Pour the fish marinade into a frying pan with vegetables, add bell pepper, salt, mix well and cook over low heat for another 5 minutes.
- Put half of the vegetables from the frying pan on the bottom of the tagine, then add the fish, and then the other half of the vegetables. Cover and cook for 30 minutes over low heat without opening the lid. Sprinkle the cooked zander with vegetables with parsley and serve.