Baked fish Stuffed with Rice and Dates

Name: Baked fish Stuffed with Rice and Dates
Cuisine: Egyptian
Ingredients: butter; 1 whole fish, such as salmon or bass, weighing at least 1.25 kg/2½ lb after gutting; juice of 2 lemons; sea salt and black pepper; 1½ cups chopped dates; 2-3 cups cooked rice (the exact quantity will depend on the size of your fish); 2 lemons or 4 limes, cut into wedges; 4 pieces of crystallized ginger, finely chopped; 1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon; ½ cup ground almonds

Preparation info

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Floyd Around the Med

By Keith Floyd

Published 2000

About

When ordering your fish, ask the fishmonger to remove the backbone from the inside, leave the head and tail on but remove all other fins and descale if necessary.

Ingredients

1 whole fish, such as salmon or bass, weighing at least 1.25 kg/2½ lb after gutting
juice of

Africa
Egypt
Fish course
Pescatarian
Gluten-free
Mediterranean

Method

Rub the cavity of the fish well with the lemon juice and some salt and pepper. To make the stuffing, mix together the dates, ginger, ground almonds, rice and cinnamon. Push 6-8 hazelnut-sized knobs of butter into the mixture and stuff the fish with it.

Butter a large piece of aluminium foil, smother the fish itself in butter and season with salt and pepper. Wrap tightly in the foil, pla