Barramundi with Passionfruit, Lime and Chili

When you have a huge basket of passionfruit staring at you, thoughts of cake and smoothies and ice cream toppings swirl around effortlessly. There was obviously passionfruit cake to be had but sometimes there is more to life than dessert. Gasp. I know, controversial. I started searching the internets for inspiration expecting nothing other than sweet treats but suddenly this brilliant idea appeared.

It was an aside, a quick mention in the middle of a beverage post, but it caught my eye – and taste-buds – immediately.

• Slice a passionfruit in half. Top with a generous squeeze of lime juice, a pinch of good sea salt and some slices of hot chili. Stir in shell and eat.

My photo of it does no justice but the flavour. Oh my. Tart and sweet and salty and hot all at once. You don’t quite know where to look or what to do except to have another. And figure out immediately what else to use it for… well other than treating the passionfruit half as a cup and adding a shot of tequila to the mix… but I digress.

I had to do something with this combination because I know that most people would not go as far as to have it on its own. It took about half a second to decide to top some pan-fried fish. Fast and fabulous. FYI, these pics are why you don’t see many dinners on this site these days… a light kit is on the list!

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Barramundi with Passionfruit, Lime and Chili

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c passionfruit pulp [approx 3-4 small or 2 large]
• 1-2 tsp lime juice
• thinly sliced birds-eye [red] or jalapeno [green] hot chili
• sea salt

• 600g [approx 1 1/3 lbs] skinless barramundi or other firm white fish, cut into four 150g [1/3 lb or 5 oz] fillets
• sea salt and cracked black pepper
• sesame oil

• Cooked freekeh or brown rice and blanched green beans to serve

Method:

Stir together passionfruit pulp, lime juice, sliced chili and a good pinch of sea salt. Set aside while you cook the fish.

On medium-high, heat a bit of sesame oil in a heavy non-stick pan. Place fish top-side down and cook for 2-3 minutes until golden. Flip and cook for a further 2-3 minutes until fish flakes easily when pressed lightly with a fork.

Drop green beans in boiling water for 60 seconds then refresh under cold water to halt cooking.

Place beans and freekeh or rice on each plate. Top with a fish fillet and a Tbsp of sauce. Dinner with minimal effort and maximum flavour, brilliant.

Serves 4

Notes:

• Cooking time will depend a bit on the thickness of the fish, remember that it will continue to cook a little bit once it comes out of the pan.
• For crispy skin fish, buy fillets with the skin-on, making sure they have been scaled. Rub skin with a bit of oil and salt and cook skin side down first. Flip fish and finish cooking. Serve skin-side up.
• Use brown rice for a naturally gluten-free meal.

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