Baked Fish with Lemon, Parsley & Parmesan Crust

If anyone were to question me about exercise today I could quite virtuously drop the word "fit ball" into the conversation because I'm using one right now! Except, to give anyone the impression I've taken some exercise would be misleading because in actual fact I'm just sitting on it. I woke up yesterday morning, but apparantly my lower back didn't. All due to being in town for several hours the day before, while wearing the wrong shoes.. (oh ok..and a few extra kilo's doesn't help). Monday is usually my "dot my i's and cross my t's' day as far as preparing for radio goes. I blog if I haven't blogged and print out my recipe if I haven't yet done so. I also prepare a "On this day in food history" question for Guryel (because he quizzes me on air in relation to the 'Birthday Bulletin' and I quiz him back with my own question). So that was my plan yesterday. I also had two places I needed to be in the afternoon, but I was in no condition to drive because I also had a headache that had me squinting 'til bedtime. In hindsight I can see some good that came out of it. One of my planned outings was something I should have 'given a miss' anyway.. and it was probably a good thing that I wasn't able to go. It wouldn't have been 'good' for me. We don't always know what's best for us, but God does. We can have our plans but if things don't happen as we'd like them to, there could be a reason beyond our own understanding at the time.

To demonstrate: I tried really hard to get a particular job a number of weeks ago and it was all going swimmingly..(in all of its numerous stages) I was almost convinced that I was going to get it. I was careful to remain humble however while staying positive and getting encouragement from the little successes I was having along the way. It was quite a lengthy recruitment process. It didn't make sense to me when I was told "no" right at the very end. But all the while, I can't deny I had been praying "God, open this door for me if this is where you want me to be and if this is the best place for me.. I trust you". When I was given the bad news, my heart sunk pretty low, so much so that I couldn't even think about the job. I didn't want to feel depressed or defeated, so I kind-of didn't allow myself "to feel" anything. If thoughts of the job popped into my mind, I pushed them out instantly. I'm not really one to avoid issues and emotions, so by the time I was ready to think about the rejection, the 'sting' and 'shock' had passed. I'd also received a requested feedback call regarding my performance in the final stage of the recruitment process (which was helpful).. so in a nutshell, I handled it all far better than I thought I would. Admittedly, prior to knowing the outcome, I was already spending my generous pay packets. I thought about upgrading my 20 year old car and the overseas trip we could finally plan etc. You get my drift. So my Mitsubishi lives to see another day.

That brings me back to my fitball. I've had one literally burst from underneath me. It's not fun..and it's pretty humiliating if there's anyone else in the room. These days a lot of fitballs are marketed as "burst resistant".. but the one that burst from under me wasn't one of those. One minute I was eBaying on the computer, next minute, there was an almighty 'bang' sound and I was flat on my back on the floor.. Shocked! My family were shocked too... and I actually put my hands on my face and started crying. But that turned into a laugh (as I started to envision what the whole thing looked like)..and we all laughed. Sometimes, in life, your proverbial fitball might burst from under you but the moral of this story is to get up.. dust yourself off, put the bits of torn rubber into the bin and put an eBay search into your computer for another fitball of the burst-resistant variety. I could have blamed my weight for the bursting incident.. but it was a bent, metal stud in my jeans that actually tore the ball. I could tear this new ball again I suppose.. but apparantly the impact won't be as shocking or traumatic (which I suppose is what 'burst resistant' means). My bottom would hypothetically slowly start gravitating towards the floor and I'd notice the descent before I actually ended up flat on the carpet. Maybe that's a bit of a metaphore for trials in our life. When we endure and trust God.. then the situation builds character & equips us better for life and 'coping' in general. We aren't floored so much when things don't go to plan. We're also in a position to help others who are on the floor too with their own bursting fitballs. We develop empathy.. and become better qualified to encourage anyone who is going through the same thing. Lets not forget the testimony's after the test's. Everyone loves a success story or to hear about a journey of trials that end in triumph.

But let's get to today's recipe.. (*I'm sure this fitball needs pumping up*... Thinking aloud here). Over the weekend, my girl and I took a drive out to Barwon Heads - which happens to be where the ABC tv series 'SeaChange' was once filmed. I've done many beach walks between Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads.. it's such a beautiful spot. I used to live closer but now it's 35 to 40 minutes each way by car (minimum) if I wanted to start walking there regularly again. There are lots of lovely little eateries and shops in the area and my advice is, if you want to have lunch in Barwon Heads on a Saturday or Sunday, book ahead. If your eatery of choice doesn't take bookings, be prepared to wait for a table or keep trying elsewhere until you have success. We ended up having lunch at 'Barwon Orange' which has some poor online reviews and the place was pretty empty... so it was kind-of like a 'last resort'. Our experience of it however wasn't too bad. We've had worse.

The service was very good, the food and drinks came out promptly and I liked the decor. My only complaints would be: The woodfired pizza bases are soft in texture as opposed to having any kind of crispiness. There is also only 1 toilet (unisex) and with the 'open studio' feel of the dining room... flies easily come in and hover around the tables and diners etc. The music was also a bit inaudible and having it louder would have lended to a better atmosphere. And it was a bit pricey ($9 for chips, for example). The pizza toppings however were delicious, the coffee was good and the potato chips with aioli (skins left on) were superior too.

Speaking of seaside things... this week we visit FISH.. something I should eat lots more of (and I tend to get my fix with salmon and avocado sushi handrolls). I didn't plan for Saturday's lemon, parsley & parmesan crusted fish to be 'recipe of the week'.. but since it was so yummy I knew I had to share it with you. I usually always photograph anything I cook.. even if it's one or two mobile phone photo's. I never know if I want to Tweet or Facebook something you see. So today you only get my three mobile phone photo's but I've made up for it with some Barwon Head's pic's from the weekend. Enjoy.. and remember to eat more fish!

(Below: Ready for the oven...)
Baked Fish with Lemon, Parsley & Parmesan Crust

-3 or 4 firm, skinless/boneless white fish fillets, around 200 to 250grams in weight each, use 'Ling' aka Rockling or John Dory, Orange roughy or Monkfish (I made this recipe for three fillets, but it will stretch to four at a push)
-1 cup of panko breadcrumbs (or homemade breadcrumbs, the coarser texture is needed for the crust)
-1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
-1/3 cup of fresh, grated parmesan cheese (buy grated parmesan from the fridge section of your supermarket because the powdery, non-refrigerated parmesan isn't suitable for this recipe)
-1 teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest
-3 tablespoon's of olive oil for the crust
-1 tablespoon of rice bran oil for the baking tray
-2 cloves of garlic for the baking tray
-Little lemon wedges to serve
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-Preheat oven to 200 degree's celcius.
-Combine all of crust ingredients in a bowl (leave out the rice bran oil and garlic).
-Peel garlic cloves and slightly bruise each clove, so it breaks apart a bit (I used a mortar and pestle, but the flat side of a large knife will suffice).
- Put a tablespoon of rice bran oil and a pinch of salt onto a clean baking tray, and grip a clove of bruised garlic in each of your hands..and start rubbing and smearing the oil around the tray using the garlic as a paintbrush of sorts. This lubricates the tray of course but will also mildly infuse some garlic aroma into your fillets while they're cooking.
-Discard all visible pieces of garlic, you don't want any pieces burning on the tray.
-Evenly lay out the fish fillets onto the baking tray.
-Top each fillet with a third or a quarter of the crust mixture (depending on how many fillets you have). Press down on the crust with your fingers and try to get it mostly on the fish and not on the baking tray.
-Put fish in preheated oven for 15 minutes, by which time the fish should be cooked through and your crust should be golden. Serve with a little wedge of lemon.
-I also served this with pan-seared broccolini, dusted in dukkah, some mashed potatoes, peas and corn. But you can serve it with any sidedish you like. Potatoes and salad is an ideal combo.


This was our resto of choice.. ("At The Heads", Jetty Road, Barwon Heads).. but we didn't book and they were full. We have a coupon to get a free meal here.. so we'll be back. They have glowing reviews on Urbanspoon.
This bakery was way too busy and noisy. They sell Bocastle pie's. I liked the colour outside their shop.
A nice display of colour outside a Barwon Head's shop. Geranium's are wonderful to decorate buildings and streets I think.
Cappuccino and hot chocolate at Barwon Orange. The two mini-tagine's (which are actually one item) actually conceal sea salt and pepper. You lift the salt and pepper with the middle handle.. but the tagine lids come off.
They have a few of these orange lanterns in the dining room...
See the big orange up against the wall? It's the back of their wood-fired oven, used for pizza's.
My girl's Margarita pizza: Napoli sauce, mozarella and fresh basil $13
Little Bo-Peep pizza (I opted for a kids-size pizza): Olive oil, garlic, sultana's, pinenuts, lamb mince, lemon, rocket, yoghurt and fetta. $10 for kid's size, but it's $19 for the adult size which is like a medium-sized pizza.
Close-up of 'Little Bo Beep'.
Fried sebago potatoes with garlic aioli $9. We took these home as the portion was too big. The aioli wasn't garlicky enough for me.
Since there were some diners out the front, looking straight at me, I decided to aim my (mobile phone) camera upwards.
I also picked up a takeaway dim sim. I had to try one of their "famous" dim sim's sourced from Footscray. Yes, only the one dim sim, but my curiosity got the better of me even though I wasn't really hungry. The verdict: I didn't think it was remarkable at all or worth the wait. It was well over $1 from memory and not as big as South Melbourne market dim sim's. My girl waits for my dim sim as I peruse the shop next door....
This morning after radio, I grabbed a drive-thru coffee & Herald Sun newspaper at Bean Squeeze and I was given these free samples by two lovely, tray-holding ladies. I noticed Bean Squeeze now have a sizey display window full of these tummy-filling extra's.. hence the marketing campaign this morning. It was first, the ordering window, second, grab your samples, third, pay and pick-up your order. The 'pastry' was a lovely egg and bacon quiche-of-sorts.. quite tasty. I didn't think much of the banana bread however. I drink less coffee now than I did a few months ago.. I was having about three to four coffee's a week on average.. now it's more like one coffee per week or two. I'm trying to increase my intake of green tea you see. Everywhere I turn I keep reading and hearing about its marvellous benefits. I've stopped hating the taste of it and now I don't mind it at all. Now I just have to make an effort to buy fish more often. Baking fillets of fish with a homemade crust is so easy, I have no excuse really!