Snoek braai

For our snoek* braai I made a gremolata with summer savoury from my mom's herb garden. The same savoury that grows in Brooklyn on my terrace. It seeded freely, and is now very happy in Cape Town.

I used the newest leaves, as it has a strong flavour, and some flat leaf parsley, a few tiny cloves from the garlic she grew from seed, a little lime zest from the tree that grows near the swimming pool.

Our old, brick braai area has been decommissioned and turned into a paradise for potted succulents, so I used the Weber. Webers are not pretty. But they do the job. The two fish had been lightly smoked, courtesy of Woolworths, and before putting them over the coals I laid many fat lemon slices on the grill, then put the fish over those, skin side down.

By the time I flipped them the fire side of the lemon was black, but the fish side still juicy. A nice grilled citrus smell wafted over the garden.

We started with a pungent ajo blanco with green grapes, then moved on to our snoek, potato and green onion (from the garden) salad, and green beans. Fruit for dessert.

The leftover snoek made a very good pate the next day, deboned and whizzed in the food processor with a little cream cheese, mayonnaise, lime juice, onion and hot red pepper. You can do the same thing with any smoked fish. It is addictive.

Now off to eat some more fish at Kirstenbosch before attacking the plant sales area...

* Snoek, in South Africa, is an oily, barracuda-like fish, with a flavour reminiscent of bluefish, if you are North American. It is typically braaied over coals, or salted and dried, or smoked. It is good.