Poached Snapper and Blackberry-Buttermilk Sherbet

The summery weather just keeps coming over here, and we couldn't be happier. We've been wanting to poach a whole fish for awhile now so we decided to give it a go on some really fresh Brazilian snapper that we bought down the street. The recipe we had appeared to have some shortcomings so I changed it into something completely different. The sherbet was something Vanessa looked up in one of our food magazines. Both worked out great and were great warm weather food.

Poached Snapper with Fresh Tomato Sauce
800 g snapper, whole, scaled, fins removed, gutted and rinsed
4 tomatoes, roma, fresh, skinned and deseeded, roughly chopped
1 onion, large, finely chopped
4 scallion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons parsley, fresh, chopped
2 garlic, peeled, cut into a few pieces
60 g butter
½ cup white wine
olive oil, for drizzling
salt and pepper
2 cups fish stock
1 tablespoon flour

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C.

Prepare the fish as stated. Combine the tomatoes, onions and scallions in a large bowl.

Grease the bottom of a baking dish with butter. Spoon half of the veggie mixture into the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic pieces and a bit of olive oil. Put the fish on top of that, then the rest of the veggie mixture on top of that. Sprinkle with plenty of salt and pepper. Add the stock, wine, a bit more olive oil and half of the parsley. Dot with half of the butter. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Carefully lift the fish out and put on a serving dish, putting foil over to keep it warm. Empty the contents of the dish into a saucepan and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes or so, until the liquid has reduced by 25%.

Make a paste with the remaining butter and the flour in a small bowl. Gradually add to the pan and simmer, whisking until the sauce has thickened. Check the seasoning and pour over the fish. Sprinkle the remaining parsley over and serve.

Blackberry-Buttermilk Sherbet
2-½ cups blackberries
½ cup sugar
1-¼ cups buttermilk

Combine blackberries and sugar in a blender or food processor; process until smooth. Strain blackberry mixture through a fine sieve over a bowl; discard solids. Stir in buttermilk.

Pour mixture into the freezer can of an ice-cream freezer; freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Spoon sherbet into a freezer-safe container; cover and freeze 4 hours or until firm.