However, there has been an increase in salmon sale in Turkey for some years thanks to doctors. As salmon is a great source of omega 3, it has numerous benefits to health and doctors recommend their seriously ill patients to have salmon.

We were at the fish market waiting for our package the other day when a lady came and asked me how I would cook those salmon fillets. Sharing my recipe with her, I told how easy it is to make salmon because its bones are not troublesome and it is almost like chicken. Then she told me she was buying it for her dad, who has cancer. She said that his doctor advised her dad to eat salmon. This fish helps renewing cells in our body with omega 3 it contains. I felt definitely sorry for her dad and couldn’t help thinking why it isn’t affordable enough for people to eat it as a precaution against such illnesses.

Prepare marinade by mixing all ingredients in a bowl. Place salmon fillets in them coating with this marinade and wait them in this sauce for about half an hour.

Then place them in a baking dish and cook them in pre-heated oven at 180 C about 30 minutes.

You can serve them with chopped green onions, red bell pepper and boiled broccoli. This would be a healthy and tasty dinner with a quality white wine.

Horse mackerel is one of the fish kinds in its season in Turkey, so when I saw it at the supermarket, I couldn’t have left without buying a bag full of fresh horse mackerel (istavrit in Turkish). They were so fresh that I felt like a hungry cat and I was almost stuck in front of the fish stand! Fortunately the man cleaned them very fast and I took them home.

This fish is served fried in Turkey, but I cook it in oven. I don’t like frying as it is harmful and troublesome. Istavrit in oven is as tasty as the fried one, it is still crispy and you can have it as a snack every now and then.

The best part of this recipe is that it is very easy.

Fırında Istavrit
Preheat oven at 180c.
Mix ¼ extra virgin olive oil with half lemon juice and salt.
Oil the oven tray. Lay fish in it.
Spread the oil&lemon juice mixture on fish with a brush.
Cook it in oven for 35 minutes until there is no water in the tray.

Serve it with green salad.

Why Should We Eat Fish?

Fish contains vitamins B, A and  D in high amounts and with protective oil acid it contains, it has good effects especially on cardiac health. Also, it is poor in bad cholesterol. With Omega 3 oil acid, it strengthens our eyes, protects from alzheimer, reduces the duration of brain ageing, and experts agree on that fish has a great effect on longevity. So fish is recommended to everyone at every age.

Do you think you eat fish often enough?

We have been visiting the fish market often these days since the fish season started. We have eaten fresh anchovies several times, but we aren’t fed up with it yet. However, when we went to the fish market this weekend to buy some anchovies again, we saw that tunny fish on the stand. They looked so fresh that we couldn’t resist to buy tunny fish this time. Tunny fish, which is called palamut in Turkish, cannot be found fresh as often as anchovies, so we made our choice for them.

What I love most about tunny fish is that it’s very easy to clean them, it takes much shorter than cleaning anchovies. Also, I love that they have bigger bones, so it’s easy to eat them. And I think when raw their meat looks very much like cabbage layers, which I find so cute.

So here is an easy, yummy, and healthy tunny fish recipe.

Fırında Palamut

Ingredients (serving:4)
-    1 tunny fish, divided into about 10 pieces or less depending on its size (fish mongers do it cut it for you here).
-     1 onion
-    ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
-     Half lemon
-    Salt
-    Bay leaf

Preheat oven at 190C. Clean and wash fish slices. Salt both sides.

Mix extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Brush the fish with this mixture.

Cut onion in rings. And  place onion rings on fish slices.

Lay bay leaf on their top.

Cook it in oven for about 30 minutes until it’s partly golden.

What to serve with this heavenly fish? Absolutely a fresh salad with onion. As onion is the best companion for fish, you can also serve extra onion with it.

On every Saturday, fishermen bring fish from Turkey seas, so we generally prefer going to fish market on that day to have the freshest fish. Among the fishes there, anchovy is my favorite because it has a strong taste and its bones are so thin that it’s not problem even if there are some bones left. In fact, removing its bones is so easy that it’s impossible to miss any bones. Anchovy fish originally lives in Black Sea, but it also lives in Marmara Sea. I prefer Black Sea anchovy as it is more delicious. You can see how anchovies are exhibited in this market.

Last Saturday was our fish day and we went to fish market and we cooked anchovy in oven. Here is the recipe:

Firinda Hamsi

Ingredients
•    1kg anchovy
•    4 tbsp olive oil
•    1 lemon
•    Red pepper flakes
•    Salt
•    A few bay leaves

When you buy fish from this fish market, they clean it for you, fishermen (you see one of them above) remove bones. So when you take them home, just washing is enough.

Oil the oven tray and place the anchovies on it. Since they are so small you can put one on another (their interior parts should stick to each other).

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F)

In a small bowl, put olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper flakes, mix them. Then spread this mixture on anchovies with a brush. Finally put a few bay leaves. Place the tray into oven and cook it 40 minutes untill all the water’s gone.

You can serve these scrumptious anchovies with onion and lemon.

Equipments

•    A boat
•    Fish net
•    Griller
•    A pair of tongs

Get on your boat with friends, sale for a while and stop in the aproppriate point (where fishing is allowed). Place the fish net properly. Wait for some time. When you think the number of fishes hooked in the net is enough, pull it.

Clean the fishes you catch and put them on griller. Turn the fish with a pair of tongs to grill the both sides equally. When you get the color you want, it’s done.

Do not wait any more, eat it without seasoning it. It doesn’t need any other ingredients.

(I hope you enjoy this recipe. In the picture, you see the small gilthead seabreams we caught last summer when we were in Bodrum/ Turkey)

In Turkish cuisine, fish is generally served with green salad. Then as a dessert after fish, helva (a sweet prepared in many varieties with sesame oil) is the indispensable one. You see the picture of helva below.

Firinda Cupra

Ingredients
•    4 gilthead seabreams, whiting, sea bass or any kind of fish (serving: 4)
•    4 onions
•    bay leaves
•    2 lemons
•    ½ cup olive oil
•    2 garlic cloves, mashed
•    salt
•    pepper flakes

Clean the fishes and wash them. Put them in a large bowl, cut onions in big pieces and combine it with fishes. Add salt and 1 lemon juice, wait at least half an hour. This will take the bad smell of fish.
Preheat the oven to 190 C. Cover the oven tray with foil paper.
Place the gilthead seabreams in the tray.
In a seperate small bowl,  mix mashed garlic, olive oil, 1 lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Spread this mixture on fishes. Put some bay leaves on them and cook it for 50 minutes.
Then you feel that piquant smell coming from your oven.