Fishy Fridays

Growing up we always had fish on Fridays. While this is normal in a Catholic home, being very Baptist it does seem rather unorthodox.

Now that I have my own home, I don't do the Friday fish thing, but this last Friday we went back to our roots and had fish. It was great, and as the weather is still extremely hot, I always vote to cook outside, as to not be stuck in the hot kitchen. Another great thing about cooking on the fire, is that Keith does the cooking, so I can just sit back and sip cold drinks.

The fish did require some preparation, but the ladies at the fish shop are very nice, and they did all the smelly work! All I had to do was take the fillets out and marinade them for a few hours before handing it to Keith to cook - delegation at it's best.

I used Yellowtail (Seriola Lalandi).

The marinade is very simple, just like the cooking.

If you are going to grill on the open fire (BRAAI), you must leave the skin on the fish.

Classic Yellowtail

Put your fish fillets in a zip-lock bag.

Make enough marinade to cover the fish.

2 parts lemon, and 1 part olive oil.

Red and Green Chilli Chopped (I use 2 colours for the visual effect)

Sea Salt

You can also put in some garlic cloves if you like.

Leave to marinade for 2 hours in the fridge.

Cook on over the fire until just done, don't over cook, otherwise it will be very dry.

Serve with a green salad and lemon wedges.

I got this interesting information as to the reason Christians (used to) eat fish on Fridays, thanks to Ken Collins -

In the first century, Jews fasted on Mondays and Thursdays. The original Christians were all Jewish and were used to the fasting as a spiritual discipline. They moved the fast days to Wednesdays and Fridays, because Judas engineered Jesus' arrest on a Wednesday and Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Most often that fast took the form of avoiding meat in the diet. In those days, meat was a luxury food.

The Wednesday and Friday fasts were a universal Christian custom in ancient times. The Roman Catholic Church downplayed the Wednesday fast, but kept the Friday fast until quite recently. Anglicans and Protestants also observed these fasts. In the 18th century, a man could not be ordained a Methodist minister if he did not fast on Wednesdays and Fridays, with the reasoning that a person who could not rule his own belly could certainly not rule the church!