Kingfish Skewers with Zucchini Salad

I have to confess that I am quite anxious when it come to preparing fish. I have spent too many years mercilessly overcooking unidentifiable white fish fillets, in little foil parcels, in the oven. As we are so spoilt living in South East Queensland with the quality, variety and freshness of the local seafood, I have decided that I need to apply myself to mastering the art of cooking fish.

This Kingfish was caught off Fraser Island late last night, packaged and sold to me at the Carrara Farmer's Market this morning, and was to be gracing our dinner plates tonight. I got to the markets a little late today (11am) and was offered this beautiful piece of Kingfish at 25% off the marked price by the fishmonger from 'Seafood Direct'. Instead of $40 a kilo, I paid $30 for a 1 kg fillet, of which I used only half for this recipe. Sometime the early bird does not get the worm when it comes to great market bargains!

I wanted to prepare something really special, but simple to allow the fish to be the star of the dish.  I vaguely remembered seeing Kingfish being cooked on Masterchef so I entered 'Masterchef Kingfish' into Google and it came up with this lovely recipe. As luck would have it, I had exactly all the ingredients needed on hand - most of them purchased fresh that morning. 

Click here to view the recipe on the Masterchef website.

It was so simple to make, looked really good and tasted truly sublime. I can honestly say I was the best piece of fish I have EVER cooked. I followed the recipe almost to the letter of the law.  I was also keen to try the fresh green king prawns I had bought, so I marinated a couple in the same lime marinade and char-grilled them for 1-2 minutes per side. The zucchini salad was crisp and refreshing and the perfect accompaniment to the softness of the fish which just melted in my mouth. 

I never try and force the girls to try anything they don't want too. I prefer to let them say 'no thanks' to the idea, then watch them salivate whilst I cook, serve and eat it in front of them. The girls turned their noses up at the offer of fish for dinner so I had fed them earlier with some left over beef curry. After tasting from our plates, the girls ended up with a small portion each, and I made up a little entree-sized plate of prawns for Libby to enjoy. 

This is a top pick for a dinner party as it requires very little preparation, cooks very quickly (less than 2 mins) and looks impressive when plated up. At approximately $10 per serve, it is great value too!