"Wow! That's Terrific Bass!"

My Dad's visiting Bali and I took him on a round-about chase to try and find a decent fish market. Like most things in South East Asia, if someone doesn't grab you by the hand and lead you to whatever location - you will have a hard time finding anything. I'm not sure if it's the 6 foot concrete walls that surround everything, or if it's just getting used to the various landmarks: "so I turn left at which temple with the old woman in front of it?" Either way, we found a pretty cool place, unfortunately they were cleaning up and closing down for the day. However, we did manage to grab a nice big fillet of sea bass (please see the Bassomatic 76 for more details) for about 11$ per kilo. Not bad for an afternoon of driving.


Ted's Tip: Get a Grilling Basket!

A while back I purchased a cooking basket for my BBQ and I haven't had the chance to use it until now. I'm hoping to get back to that fish market and get me a proper whole fish to try it out, but I was very impressed! The clamp worked great, although I bought this particular basket specifically because it did not have a hinge; instead you can adjust the height depending on what you are planning to grill. In the past, cooking fillet on the BBQ, especially a big one, always presented the issue of "stick-age." Usually, we get around this problem by using a cedar plank, or some aluminium foil - so when it come time to life the thing off the grill, it doesn't fall apart. Basically, because all the bones are gone, there's nothing holding the fillet together. But with a grilling basket, you also get the opportunity to flip your fish and  give it some colour on the top side. Now I'm curious what else I can clamp in there and grill away...

Dad looked up some recipes for "BBQ Sea Bass" online and we found a simple one that has lots of room for improvisation. Here is what we did:

Grilled Sea Bass with Garlic

Butter
Olive oil (this helps keep the butter from burning)
Garlic (we chopped it - no press)
Chives
Paprika
Chili Powder
Basil/Thyme/Oregano (the classic trifecta!)
Salt & Pepper

Heat the butter and oil in a frying pan, add the garlic and chives, then the spices. Simmer it a bit and then brush it onto the fish. Put the fish in the basket. Grill over medium heat. Turn once. Damn that's good bass!

TW