GreekFoodTv☼ Gilthead Bream with Egg-Lemon Sauce

Try Greek farmed bream and PDO extra virgin Greek olive oil in this healthy, easy fish dish. For the recipe, press the more button.

Gilthead Bream with Egg-Lemon Sauce
2-4 servings
1 cup/240 ml extra-virgin Greek olive oil
3 large onions, coarsely chopped
2 large carrots, cut into ¼-inch/6-mm-thick rounds
1 ½ pounds/750 g. cultivated celery, coarsely chopped, plus 1 tsp. ground celery seeds, or 2 pounds/1 kilo thin-stalked wild celery
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 pounds/1 kilo gilthead bream, cleaned and gutted

Egg and Lemon Sauce (Avgolemono)
2 large eggs
Juice of 1 large lemon
1. Prepare the vegetables: Heat the olive oil in a large pot and cook the onions over low heat, stirring until wilted, about 10 minutes. Add the carrots, celery, and celery seeds, if using, and toss to coat with the oil. Cover and simmer over low heat until the vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes, adding water if necessary to keep the mixture from burning.
2. Season the fish with sea salt and pepper.
3. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper. Place the fish carefully on top of the vegetables in the pot. Pour in the water, enough to cover the vegetables by ½ inch/1,5 cm. Cover, raise the heat and bring to a boil Then lower the heat and simmer until flaky and fork-tender, about 12 to 15 minutes.
4. Prepare the egg-lemon sauce: Beat the eggs and lemon juice together with a wire whisk or an immersion blender in a small bowl. Slowly add a ladleful of the pan juices from the fish in a steady stream, whisking/beating all the while, and immediately pour the avgolemono into the pot. Turn off the heat, tilt the pot back and forth to spread the avgolemono all around. Remember to not cover the pot. Serve hot.

The variety of fish dishes in the Greek kitchen goes way beyond the simple, grilled fish, whole on the bone, that so many people know from Greek restaurants. This is one of the classics, with avgolemono sauce. Try Greek farmed bream for this dish.

This is the Greek Food Channel http://www.dianekochilas.com/
Come to visit Diane and Vassili at their GLORIOUS GREEK KITCHEN COOKING SCHOOL (Ikaria). They run cooking classes and organize culinary tours in Greece for recreational and professional cooks. They also own DV FOOD ARTS CONSULTING, a food marketing company that produces specialty books and other food-and-wine-related literature for a wide variety of clients and independently for the tourist and other markets. Diane consults on Greek cuisine for restaurants, retail outlets and producers of fine Greek foods. Vassilis Stenos (photographer) offers an extensive archive of food and travel photographs of Greece.

Diane Kochilas is an internationally known food writer, cookbook author, culinary teacher, food consultant and food "guru". She has more than 20 years' experience in the Greek kitchen. Diane divides her time between Athens, Ikaria, and New York. She is the consulting chef at Pylos, one of New York's top-rated Greek restaurants as well as consulting chef at Avli Restaurant in Chicago. She writes frequently for the US food press and appears regularly on American television. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, Gourmet, Saveur, Food & Wine, Eating Well and in other food and general-interest publications. In Athens, she is the weekly food columnist and restaurant critic for Ta Nea, the country's largest newspaper. She has written 19 books on Greek and Mediterranean cuisine, including the award-winning The Glorious Foods of Greece. Her books include: The Food and Wine of Greece, The Greek Vegetarian, The Glorious Foods of Greece, Meze, Against the Grain (good carbs), Mediterranean Grilling, Mastiha Cuisine, The Northern Greek Wine Roads Cookbook, and Aegean Cuisine (see below).

She is also a consultant for Hellenic Gourmet, the duty free food shops at the Venizelos International Airport and around Greece, to help upgrade the store's selection and source product. Her knowledge of Greek regional foods, wines, and culinary lore is extensive.