Armenian Inspired Good Friday

When I have the chance to take my time and prepare a meal, it's always something more challenging and generally pretty healthy.

My parents are down from Toronto for this Easter weekend and this means, lots of fun in the kitchen! On Good Friday, I suggested we prepare fish to follow the christian tradition, after all, fish is so good for your health. It offers the benefits of providing you with good fatty acids (omega-3), an excellent lean source of protein and so many vitamins and minerals... it's a win-win!

We bought two fairly large Tilapia fish. I didn't want to do the dirty work, so I volunteered my dad to clean the insides and my sister and I took over after all the mess was cleaned up, it was great having him there!

It was such a nice day out, we decided we would BBQ this bad boy in tin foil. 

This is our fish all cleaned up and ready for some delicious seasonings.

My sister and I took care of the seasonings and started by adding our usual "armenian style rub" which is essentially hot peppers, salt, onions, garlic, black pepper. Then stuffed the inside with the rub, fresh cilantro, lemons and a little touch of olive oil. Then added a little more seasoning on the exterior to complete the flavours as well. We wrapped the fish in tin foil and my dad threw it on the BBQ for about 50 minutes.

The final product... SO amazing. Blast of lemon flavours and hot peppers were just so tasty, one of the best fish I've ever prepared! 

Our accompaniments included an armenian grilled veggie salad (see below), bulgur (cracked wheat with sautéed onions in a tomato sauce) and sautéed asparagus. 

In the making of the Armenian Grilled Vegetable Salad... 

Grilled tomatoes, eggplant, green peppers, red peppers, 2 hot peppers, red onions and parsley with salt and pepper. 

This traditional armenian style salad consists of a lot of patience to prepare because after you grill the vegetables, you must hand peel the burnt skin. I have been doing this for many years and got used to the heat. 

Add some red onions

Cut up the grilled veggies, add some salt & pepper and fresh parsley, and there you have a fresh grilled veggie salad.