Lunch at Passion for Spices is always an adventure. Yesterday, in the middle of buttoning down the myriad details for our upcoming participation in the Summit Wine and Food Festival, May decided to test another recipe from our upcoming cookbook.

Within minutes, May made a rub (using freshly ground ginger, garlic and tandoori spices), sliced some lemons and stuffed all of this fragrant mixture with some curry leaves in the open cavity of a branzini that she had bought at Whole Foods (the fishmongers there clean it thoroughly and split it in half to minimize the time and effort required at home). Then, she rubbed some of the spicy paste on the skin, added some lemon slices on top and bottom, drizzled it with safflower oil and baked it in her beloved Breville Smart Oven at 400˚ for about 10 minutes. To finish it off, May broiled the fish to give it a lovely color.

Did I mention that it actually was mouthwatering? The flesh of the Branzini, also called European sea bass, has a delicate taste and texture that was perfectly complemented by the subtle taste of the spice rub that May put together. And so healthy! Branzini is naturally high in Omega 3 and protein but low in fat, cholesterol and calories. We completed our lunch with a baked sweet potato. In the immortal words of Goldilocks, “…just right.”

Lunch cooked for about 15 minutes while we put together the grocery list for the event. All the while, the cooking fish filled the kitchen with a tantalizing aroma that inspired us.