Moroccan Bream, Couscous, Pomegranate and Harissa

Meal 79 - September 25th - Moroccan Bream, Couscous, Pomegranate and Harissa

A weekend away forced a brief hiatus on my 15 minute meal challenge but it was nonetheless a weekend with several noteworthy events of the culinary kind. We were headed down to Cornwall for my sister's wedding and being a journey of several hundred miles, we stopped en route several times. The first stop was at a service station in a town called Wincanton, for petrol. We popped into the adjoining Morrison's for a bit of liquid refreshment and I couldn't believe what I saw. Let me just explain first of all that Wincanton is a small town with a population of about four thousand. According to the Wikitravel website, it's third most popular attraction is the A303 bypass. Morrison's, meanwhile, is generally regarded a fairly downmarket chain of supermarket. And yet in this Morrison's in sleepy Wincanton I was greeted by an array of fresh fruit and veg to rival even the finest supermarket we came across in the Loire Valley a couple of months ago. It even had a little sprinkler system to keep the produce refreshed.


Secondly, and more pertinently, it was a weekend where we ate a ridiculous amount of meat. The wedding dinner itself featured several pounds of paté and a large joint of lamb and was followed by a hog roast in the evening. The following day I felt obliged to assist in eating the (copious) leftovers. There were various meat heavy takeaways on the days either side and even a visit to the retro roadside café Little Chef. By the time we got home we were desperate to avoid meat at all costs (sneaky Greggs for lunch notwithstanding) and so chose the Moroccan Bream for my 79th 15 minute meal of the year.

The meals involving whole fish have generally been resounding successes and there was nothing about this one that made me think it would be any different. It got cooked with the minimum of fuss (just one frying pan required) and upon serving it looked interesting but kind of... busy. A bit like the food processor had vomited on a serving platter. Thankfully, unlike the green tea salmon, this time it tasted better than looked. The fish was beautifully flaky (although Lolz moaned about the bones), the salsa was sweet and satisfying, and the accompany nuts, seeds and rosewater yoghurt provided some nice contrasting textures.

Lolz gave the meal 8/10. Difficulty rating 2/10.