Grouper with green beans from Mount Athos
The rich fishing grounds of Mount Athos are famous for delicious stone fish such as groupers and white grouper. These fish are used in many monastic recipes. In the monks kitchens, dishes like this are cooked in the traditional pan over the fire but the food will be just as delicious in any non-stick pan. See bellow the recipe of the monk Epifanios for braised grouper with green beans and try it.
We scrape the grouper to remove the scales, remove the entrails and gills and cut it into pieces, without removing the skin.
We wash the pieces of the grouper well, salt them with coarse salt and let them drain in a colander for at least 3 hours.
We put the pieces of the grouper in a wide pot, "plakero" type, preferably non-stick.
We pour cold water into the pot to cover the pieces of the grouper well and put it on a very high heat.
At the same time we put the green beans to boil in another pot.
As soon as the grouper pieces starts to boil, we remove the foam with a slotted spoon.
Immediately after we strain the beans and throw them hot on the plate.
Then we add the chopped onions or the onion juice and the whole garlic cloves.
Then we pour the olive oil and tomato paste into the pan, continuing with high heat.
We season the food with salt and pepper, add the parsley and continue boiling. The grouper should be boiled for at least one hour.
After about 45 minutes, we add the oregano and reduce the heat to very low and shake the pot regularly to prevent the food from sticking. We never mix.
When the sauce thickens enough, we remove the food from the heat and serve.
This recipe can also be made with other fish such as cod or dentex etc.
I f we also add the head of the grouper in the pot, the food will become tastier.
The heat must be very strong so that the oil together with the onions and the "glue" of the fish eventually become a thick sauce.
The recipe can also be made with zucchinis or okra instead of beans.
The recipe can also be made with white sauce instead of red. We simply replace the tomato paste with lemon juice, which we add at the end.
