La Goulette-style grilled grey mullet with lemon, cumin and harissa sauce and pepper couscous
Two small grey mullet with well-seared skin, salted ahead to firm the flesh, an uncooked olive oil, lemon, garlic, cumin and harissa sauce with just enough heat, and couscous rubbed with oil then steamed, with tender peppers, golden onion and herbs.
Ingredients for two
| 900 g | Whole grey mullet (bouri), gutted and scaled 2 grey mullet, 450 g each (450–500 g per fish), gutted, scaled and slashed twice on each side by the fishmonger; fresh on the day |
| 160 g | Medium couscous precooked medium couscous, 80 g per person |
| 200 g | Red peppers 1 large pepper, cut into 1 cm dice |
| 100 g | Yellow onions 1 small onion, thinly sliced |
| 95 g | Extra virgin olive oil 45 g for the sauce, 15 g for the vegetables, 25 g for the couscous (15 g to rub through, 10 g uncooked to finish), 10 g for the fish and griddle |
| 240 g | Lemon 2 lemons: squeeze the first for the sauce (30 g juice), cut 2 slices from the second for the cavities and the rest into wedges for the table |
| 5 g | Garlic 1 clove, crushed in a garlic press |
| 10 g | Harissa 1 heaped tsp; 15 g for those who like more heat, or replace with 1 finely chopped hot green chilli |
| 20 g | Fresh coriander leaves chopped: half for the sauce, half for the couscous; tender stalks reserved for the cavities |
| 10 g | Flat-leaf parsley leaves chopped, for the couscous |
| 3 g | Ground cumin 1 level tsp: 2 g for the sauce, 1 g for the vegetables |
| 2 g | Sweet paprika ¾ tsp for the vegetables |
| 195 g | Water 100 g cold water to moisten the couscous, 50 g to sprinkle over at the end, 30 g for the peppers, 15 g hot water for the sauce; plus uncounted water in the steaming pan |
| 10.5 g | Fine salt 2 level tsp: 5 g for the fish, 2 g for the vegetables, 2 g for the couscous, 1.5 g for the sauce |
| 0.8 g | Ground black pepper about ⅓ tsp: half for the fish, half for the sauce |
Method
- Salt the fish first: take out the mullet, pat dry inside and out with kitchen paper, and distribute 5 g salt inside the cavities, in the slashes and over the sides. Season with half the pepper. Put on a plate and return to the fridge for 15–20 minutes while preparing the vegetables: the salt firms the flesh and draws beads of moisture onto the skin, which you will pat dry before grilling.
- Thinly slice the onion and cut the pepper into 1 cm dice. Heat 15 g oil in a sauté pan over a medium heat. Cook the onion for 4 minutes, then add the pepper and cook for 8 minutes, stirring. Add 1 g cumin, the paprika, 2 g salt and 30 g water; cover for 4 minutes, then uncover for 2 minutes to let the water evaporate. The pepper should be soft and lightly golden, with no water left in the pan. Turn off the heat and leave covered in the pan.
- While the vegetables cook, moisten the couscous: put the 160 g in a mixing bowl, dissolve 2 g salt in 100 g cold water and sprinkle over the grains while stirring with a fork. Leave uncovered for 10 minutes to swell. Chop the coriander and parsley leaves; reserve the tender coriander stalks for the fish cavities.
- Make the sauce, the heart of the dish: crush the garlic clove into a bowl with a garlic press. Add 45 g olive oil, the juice of the first lemon, 30 g, 10 g harissa, 2 g cumin, 1.5 g salt, the remaining pepper, half the coriander and 15 g hot water. Whisk with a fork for 30 seconds, until the sauce becomes cloudy and thickens. Taste: the lemon should be distinct, rounded by the oil, and the heat lively without burning; adjust the harissa or salt. Keep this bowl clean and separate, away from the raw fish: it is for the table.
- Rub the swollen couscous between your palms with 15 g oil until all the lumps break up, then put it in the top of a couscoussier. Alternatively, use a metal colander over a saucepan with 5 cm simmering water, sealing the join with a rolled damp tea towel so the steam passes through the grains. Cover and steam for 15 minutes from the moment steam rises through the couscous. At the same time, heat the cast-iron griddle over two hobs on a high heat, allowing 5 minutes to preheat.
- While the griddle heats, take the mullet out of the fridge and pat the skin dry: it must be dry. Put a slice of the second lemon and the coriander stalks into each cavity, then brush the sides with 5 g oil. Just before adding the fish, use tongs to rub the hot griddle ridges with kitchen paper soaked in the remaining 5 g oil.
- Lay the two mullet on the griddle, facing in opposite directions without touching, and reduce to a medium-high heat. Cook for 5–6 minutes on the first side without moving them; if the skin resists the spatula, wait another minute before trying again. Turn with two spatulas and cook for 5–6 minutes on the other side. Look for a white eye and opaque flesh along the back that separates with a fork near the backbone; a thermometer should confirm 63°C at the thickest point. Cook for another 1–2 minutes if needed. Transfer each whole fish to its plate and rest for 3 minutes.
- While the fish rests, take the couscoussier off the heat, tip the couscous into the mixing bowl and separate the grains with a fork. Sprinkle over 50 g water and 10 g uncooked oil, then fluff. Return the pepper pan to a medium heat for 1 minute on the freed hob, then mix the peppers, parsley and remaining coriander into the grains. Plate immediately: couscous beside the fish, a drizzle of sauce over the flesh exposed with a fork rather than all over the skin, and the wedges from the second lemon and remaining sauce in its bowl on the table.
Fish-free
- Whole grey mullet (bouri), gutted and scaled → Boneless skinless chicken thighs (pargiyot) 400 g (4 pargiyot, opened out by hand, 1.5–2 cm thick; ask the butcher to flatten any thicker pieces)
- add Ground cumin 1 g (for the chicken marinade)
- add Sweet paprika 1 g (for the chicken marinade)
- At step 1, salt the 4 pargiyot with 1 g per piece, 4 g in total instead of the fish's 5 g, season with pepper and refrigerate on their own plate.
- At step 4, as soon as the sauce is whisked and before any contact with the fish, put one-third, about 35 g, into a shallow dish. Add 1 g cumin and 1 g paprika, turn the pargiyot in it and marinate in the fridge for 20 minutes while steaming the couscous and preheating the griddle. Keep the rest of the sauce in its bowl for the table.
- At step 7, heat a second frying pan over a medium-high heat while the griddle preheats. Drain the pargiyot of their marinade and cook for 5–6 minutes per side, until the centre reaches 74°C, handling them with tongs reserved for meat. Rest in their dish for 3 minutes. Discard the marinade.
- Serve the chicken with the same pepper couscous and the fresh sauce from the bowl, never the marinade; do not use the fish juices or utensils.
Replacement quantities serve two. For one fish plate and one fish-free plate, keep the accompaniment for two and use one mullet and two pargiyot; divide the sauce into bowls before it touches either raw protein. Use separate dishes and utensils for fish and meat.
Lighter version
- Extra virgin olive oil : 50 g
Divide the 50 g oil as follows: 25 g in the sauce, 10 g to rub through the couscous with none added at the end, 10 g for the vegetables, and 5 g to brush the fish and oil the griddle.
The same sauce with half the oil; harissa and lemon provide the flavour.
On your plate
Recipe
1338 kcal · protein 104 g · carbs 71 g · fat 67 g
Quantities per person
- 450 g Whole grey mullet (bouri), gutted and scaled
- 80 g Medium couscous
- 100 g Red peppers
- 50 g Yellow onions
- 47.5 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 120 g Lemon
- 2.5 g Garlic
- 5 g Harissa
- 10 g Fresh coriander
- 5 g Flat-leaf parsley
- 1.5 g Ground cumin
- 1 g Sweet paprika
- 97.5 g Water
- 5.25 g Fine salt
- 0.4 g Ground black pepper
Fish-free version
1065 kcal · protein 53 g · carbs 71 g · fat 59 g
Quantities per person
- 80 g Medium couscous
- 100 g Red peppers
- 50 g Yellow onions
- 47.5 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 120 g Lemon
- 2.5 g Garlic
- 5 g Harissa
- 10 g Fresh coriander
- 5 g Flat-leaf parsley
- 2 g Ground cumin
- 1.5 g Sweet paprika
- 97.5 g Water
- 5.25 g Fine salt
- 0.4 g Ground black pepper
- 200 g Boneless skinless chicken thighs (pargiyot)
Cooking tips
Both fish must fit on the griddle together. If the griddle is 40 cm long, one 900 g mullet will do: allow 8–9 minutes per side. Without a griddle, place the fish side by side on a metal tray beneath a preheated oven grill, 12 cm from the element, for about 6 minutes per side, watching the colour and checking the centre is cooked. If the fishmonger only has 400 g mullet, buy two and allow 4–5 minutes per side. Buy the fish fresh on the day and ask the fishmonger to make all the slashes. The sauce is never used to marinate the fish: it stays uncooked and fresh for the table. Nutrition based on whole-fish weight overestimates the flesh eaten, which is about 55% of the fish's weight.
Fish grilling traditions of the Jews of Tunis and La Goulette: bouri meshwi from the Tunisian coast, including Sfax and Kerkennah, is whole grilled grey mullet with an uncooked garlic, cumin and lemon sauce spiked with harissa; pepper couscous replaces the bread.
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