Name: Fish with Tahini Sauce (Samak bil Tahineh)
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Syrian
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon salt; 3 to 5 cloves garlic, minced; ½ cup tahini (sesame paste); ¼ cup pine nuts, toasted, for garnish; 2 to 3 onions, chopped; ¼ cup canola oil; 3 tablespoons olive oil; 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; one 3- to 4-pound whole fish, such as snapper or sea bass, or 2 ½ pounds firm white fish fillets; kosher salt to taste; 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley for garnish; 6 tablespoons cold water or fish stock, or more as needed; 6 to 8 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Saffron Shores

By Joyce Goldstein

Published 2002

About

This is a classic fish dish from Syria and Lebanon. A whole fish is baked or grilled and skinned. It is coated with a garlicky lemon-laced tahini sauce and baked again. After cooking it is placed on a serving platter and decorated lavishly with cucumbers, radishes, pine nuts, pomegranate seeds, and so on. Usually served at room temperature, it could be the centerpiece of a summer buffet.