As most of you know by now, watermelon is one of my favourite fruits. It reminds me of my youth; watermelon festivals at school and picnics with my parents. At these picnics the watermelon was always placed in the dam or river, to cool it.
With the summer weather in Cape Town considerably colder than usual, I was playing with the idea of baking watermelon in my griddle pan for some time. I could however not decide what I could serve it with until I found some lovely fresh kingklip at my local grocery store.
I received a lot of oohs and aahs when I was serving the dish, because how will watermelon – that is traditionally served chilled – taste when it is served hot? The verdict is “great” – it tasted great!
This is a very easy dish and can hardly be described as a recipe. The fish was seasoned with za’atar. I bought the za’atar from Woolworths, but you can make your own by blending together 5ml salt, 30ml dried thyme, 30ml dried origanum, 30ml toasted sesame seeds and 60ml sumac. Store the za’atar in an airtight container.
I do not buy kingklip often because it is on SASSI’s orange list. The kingklip can be substituted with hake for a more environment friendly option.
- 4 x 200g kingklip fillets
- 80ml za’atar
- salt
- 10ml olive oil
- 4 rectangular slices of watermelon, seeds removed, about 2.5 cm thick
- 60ml balsamic glaze
- Pre-heat the oven to 180⁰C.
- Season the kingklip liberally with the za’atar and a little salt. Place on an oiled baking tray and bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until the fish is cooked through.
- In the mean time, heat the olive oil in a griddle pan and bake the watermelon on both sides until the griddle lines are showing.
- Drizzle with the balsamic glaze and place on a serving dish.
- Top with the roasted kingklip and serve immediately.
Looks really delicious. Love the idea. 🙂