Oven Baked Mackerel with Vegetables

Oven Baked Mackerel with Vegetables
Fish! A unique food for the body and very tasty at the same time.
Mackerel is a fish that is abundant in summer in Greece. This dish is easy to make in the oven with many different vegetables. In very little time we have fresh food served at our table, accompanied with a frosty glass of retsina .
Enjoy!
work: 30′ time: 1h:30′ easy:
Oven Baked Mackerel with Vegetables
Retsina
Retsina (white or rosé) is a Greek wine containing pine resin from the common mediteranean pine (Aleppo pine). In ancient times there was no glassware (bottles), so the wine is oxidized rapidly in the amphorea. It should be consumed within one year of production before spoiling.
The ancient Greeks found the technique to seal the amphorea with resin so that oxygen can not pass through the pores of the ceramic pot and spoil the wine.
This of course gave the wine the distinctive taste and aroma of resin. The Greeks got used to its taste and liked it.
Other people, however, as the Romans, found the scent of resin particularly repelling. Around the third century they (the Romans) built wooden storage barrels that were more airtight than clay amphorea and were able to keep the wine for long periods.
In Byzantium Retsina remained popular but was virtually unknown in the West. It is interesting the story of matchmaking between the daughter of Romanos ΙΙ and the heir of Holy Roman Empire Otto II. The delegates of Otto came to Constantinople and left very unhappy because the Byzantines served them goat stuffed with onions in a sauce of fish and adding insult to injury, gave them to dring that "unacceptable" wine with resin.

Ingredients (3 servings)

  • 3 (1.2Kgr 2.6 lbs) large mackerel
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 κολοκυθάκι
  • ½ Kgr (1.1 lbs) potatoes
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 red pepper
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • salt & pepper
  • 2 tbsp parsley, chopped
  • 1 tbsp capers
  • 1 tbsp oregano
  • 1 tbsp turmeric, optional
  • 1 lemon, juice and zest
  • 50 ml (1.7 floz) olive oil
Clean and wash the fish. Salt them with coarse salt and let drain in a colander. Mackerel have no scales and the cleaning is easier than other fish.
Peel, wash and cut the vegetables into thin slices.
Grease an ovenproof dish and put the fish…
…on top put the vegetables in alternating layers, and add the spices. Garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, capers, oregano, turmeric, lemon juice and zest, and sprinkle with olive oil.
Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place in oven at 180°C/ 360°F/ Gas 4 for an hour or until the vegetables are tender and cooked.
Near the end of baking remove the cover to brown the vegetables.
Oven Baked Mackerel with Vegetables

Zambia Sifaki