Samke Haara or "Spicy Fish" - Traditional Lebanese Fish with Spicy Tahini sauce

Delicious, creamy (without cream!), simple, nutritious meal! The best part about making this is you will likely have leftover sauce that you can use to dress other items such as roasted cauliflower! Linked some of the ingredients and tools as well!

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

Fish (cod, halibut- it can work on most fish since you prepare the sauce and pour the sauce on the fish after the fish is done baking!)

Extra virgin olive oil

2 cups water

3/4 cup Beirut tahini (Best tasting tahini!)

3/4 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice

10-12 cloves of garlic minced

2 teaspoons of coriander

2 teaspoons cayenne

1 teaspoon sumac

2 cups nuts (optional but does add a nice flavor- I used roasted almonds)

Salt and pepper to taste

Paprika to taste

Fresh parsley for garnish

Directions:

**Depending on the type and size of fish you use temperature and time may vary **

1. First you should mince the fresh garlic as this will be pretty time consuming.

2. To roast the nuts, either do it stove-top or in the oven until golden (300 F). 1/2 will be used for adorning the fish once it is baked and the other 1/2 - pulse in a blender to add to the sauce.

3. For the sauce, use a big pot, add the water, tahini, half of the lemon juice, minced

garlic, coriander, sumac, cayenne, dash of salt. You will need to constantly stir this on

medium high heat. You want the consistency to be thick, creamy yet still liquidy enough so that it is pourable on the baked fish. Taste and season with more cayenne and lemon juice if desired. Add pulsed nuts to sauce. I use a whisk to stir! It may take 15-20 minutes.

4. For halibut fillets, preheat oven to 425 F. Pour some olive oil on the bottom of a baking pan. Pat fish with paper towel to dry. Place fillets skin down on the pan. Salt and pepper each filet well. Sprinkle a little olive oil on the top of the filets and bake for about 15-20 minutes. (Ovens vary. I roasted 2-inch deep halibut fillets for 18 minutes to give you an idea- photo below!) If you cooked the sauce before putting the fish in the oven, you may want to quickly reheat the sauce on the stove for a few minutes.

5. Top cooked fish with roasted nuts, pour tahini sauce on fish, sprinkle with paprika and add parsley.

6. Enjoy!

Helpful tools:

1. Whisk for stirring the sauce

2. Blender for pulsing the nuts