fish stuffed with rice

Ingredients for a pageot weighing 3kg (6 lbs 10 oz )

* 1kg (2 lbs 3oz) of tomatoes * 200 g (7 oz) of green stoned olives

* 2 pickled lemons (zest only) * 1 teag(assful three-quarters full of polished rice

* 200 g(7 oz) of butter * 2 hot peppers (chillies) - optional

Preparation: 

cooking time in oven : about 1 1/4 hours

Clean, wash and drain the fish. Marinade for a few hours in the chermoula, Par-boil the rice for 3 minutes in boiling salt water. Peel and seed the tomatoes, dice them, keep the juice on one side, cut the olives and zest of the pickled lemons into very small pieces.

Mix the tomatoes, olives and pickled lemons with the chermoula Add the par-boiled rice to half this mixture and put the other half on one side.Add 100 g (4 oz) of unmelted butter to this mixture and stuff the fish with it, first making an incision along its belly. Sew up the opening. Put the fish in an oven-proof dish and cover it with the remainder of the olives, lemons and tomatoes.

Put the remaining ioo g (4 oz) of butter on lop and pour a teaglassfvl of water and the tomato juice over, (If liked, add 2 small, whole chillies.) Cook in a hot oven, basting the fish with the sauce from time to time, for about 1 1/4 hours, Serve immediately.