Pisces: Bring the sea home Israel today

2021-12-24T06:37:44.073Z

Fish on the table are a sign of abundance and prosperity • In recent years the recipes starring them have greatly upgraded and offer a sea of options

Pisces are my endless love.

My connection with them is from birth, because I am Pisces, and when I was little, around the age of 8, I had neighbors named Haim and Shlomo who would go fishing every Saturday and I would rejoice at their fishing stories.

There were Saturdays when I would get up at four in the morning and join the bunch of fishing neighbors.

They would start the get-together the day before, check that all the equipment was in order and that there was no hook missing, and mostly invest a lot of attention in preparing the dough for the baits.

"To come back with a good loot you need a good dough," they would say.

At the Shabbat table at Grandma Esther's the first course was always fish, as they are a symbol of blessing and prosperity, and the first course is eaten as a sign of abundance.

At home they always said "the fish must be on the table, as a sign of blessing".

Grandma Esther's fish was spicy "without mercy", and while even my mother and the rest of the family were under pressure from my dealing with this spicy - I remember the look of my father, who would sit in front of me and look at me in fear, not because of the spicy but because of the bones, God forbid I will not suffocate.

In the end, without fear of the spicy or the bones, I always left a plate with a perfect bonnet and no drop of fish meat.

From a young age I knew how to break the fish meat off the bones.

In those days, when my mother wanted live fish, she would go to the Maalot shopping center and go to Hanania's store, which had a stick with a net at the end.

Hananiah would catch from the aquarium a paddle, and with the help of a rolling pin "gives" him two decent knocks on the head.

This is a terrible play, which to my joy has already disappeared from the world.

In recent years we have learned to consume fish, and with the demand for more variety and types, the recipes have also improved.

Thus, for example, we have learned to consume fresh fish that make the difference in results.

On top of that, following the upgrade in the field there are more and more fish shops, which is welcome.

One of the only women in the field of fish in the country.

"The Fisherwoman" Meital Zimner, Photo: Assaf Carla

Among the variety of fish shops there is one near my home, called "The Fisherman's Wife," owned by Meital Zimner.

I met Meital ten years ago, when she opened her first place in Hod Hasharon, and today she has another store in Kfar Saba.

As far as I know, Meital is one of the only women in the field of fish in the country, and she always flows with my craziness and knows how to get the best fish for me from the fishermen.

Because of my love for fish we became good friends, so I felt like cooking with her "some others" in honor of Shabbat.

Fisherman's Fish Soup

Warm and delicious.

The fish soup of "The Fisherman's Wife", Photo: Assaf Carla

Materials:

3 Fish Herons (White Sea Fish)
700 g locus or sea fish, cut into cubes
2 liters of water
3 tablespoons olive oil
400 grams of carrots (ground in pulses)
300 g fennel (ground in pulses)
300 g white onion, chopped
200 grams of sliced garlic
1 red chili, sliced
1 kg of tomatoes, ground
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
5 star anise
40 grams of roasted anise seeds
1/2 pack saffron
1/2 cup pastis
1/2 bottle of dry white wine
150 grams of flour
1 teaspoon salt

Fry the vegetables in olive oil over high heat in the following order: carrots, fennel, onions, garlic and chili.

Add the wine and pastries and continue to cook until the alcohol has evaporated.

Add the star anise, anise seeds, saffron, tomatoes and flour, and mix until there are no lumps.

Add the water, bring to a boil and grind the soup well with a hand blender.

Add the parsley, salt and maple, bring to a further boil and cook for 40 minutes on low heat.

Remove the mantles, strain the soup through a sieve and adjust the salt seasoning.

Add the locus cubes, cook for another 5 minutes and serve.

Stuffed fish fillet wrapped in dough

The spices are already inside.

Stuffed fish fillet wrapped in dough, Photo: Assaf Carla

Materials:

2 large fish fillets of the Frida type or other sea fish (with a total weight of 2 kg)

To fill:

1/2 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon flat paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 bunch chard, chopped (only the green part)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 hot pepper, chopped
A handful of chopped coriander
A handful of chopped parsley
1/2 lemon, chopped (with the peel)
Salt
pepper

For the paprika dough:

650 grams of flour
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon sugar
A handful of chopped coriander
1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon shatta pepper
350 ml cold water
1 teaspoon fine salt

Fry the chard, onion, garlic and spices in a pan and refrigerate.

After cooling mix the fried vegetables with the rest of the ingredients and place the mixture on one piece of fish fillet, with the skin facing down.

After sprinkling all the filling mixture, place the second piece of fillet on top, with the skin facing up.

Now, for making the dough.

Form from all the ingredients a uniform and beautiful dough, put it a little and put in the fridge for an hour.

If the dough is too wet, you can add some flour until it becomes pliable but not sticky.

After cooling, roll out the dough, place the stuffed fish in the center, wrap and seal them with the dough and pinch it with scissors, to give the appearance of "scales".

Spread the dough with the egg, sprinkle over a little coarse salt, place in a baking pan and place in an oven preheated to a temperature of 200 degrees, for 25 minutes.

Fish and herbs salad

Mixing full all good.

Fish and herbs salad, Photo: Assaf Carla

Materials: