This Baked Lapu-Lapu (or grouper in English) is inspired by the restaurant La Cocina de Tita Moning’s Baked Lapu-lapu Cooked with Olive Oil and Garlic. (I work there part-time so I’m unabashedly promoting it here on the blog, haha.) Proof to that is the use of bread crumbs to cover the top part of the fish. This tasty and flavorful fish dish will make you feel like a domestic diva. It’s so easy to make yet it is classy enough to be served during special occasions.
Ingredients:
500g lapu-lapu
10 pcs. calamansi (or 1 lemon)
olive oil
¼ cup soy sauce (optional)
bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste
toasted garlic bits (prepared beforehand)
hot water
butter
Directions:
1. Place the cleaned-up fish in a baking dish. Pour calamansi juice and soy sauce over the fish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and marinate for 30 minutes. Put inside the ref.
2. Get the marinated fish from the ref. Pour some olive oil over it, just enough to cover its whole body.
3. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 350°F.
4. After the 30-minute baking time is over, take it out of the oven and turn the fish to cook the other side. Put bread crumbs on the fish, just enough to cover its top part. Pour some trimmings and juice from the baking dish over the bread crumbs to help them stick to the fish. Bring it back into the oven and bake for another 30 minutes at 350°F.
5. When baking has finished, remove from the oven.
6. Transfer the fish carefully from the baking dish to the serving plate.
7. Put just enough hot water to the trimmings and juices left on the baking dish and mix thoroughly. Transfer the mixture in a pan (heated under low fire) and add some butter to it to make a tasty sauce. Mix some more and once boiling, remove from heat.
8. Pour the sauce over the fish and sprinkle lots of toasted garlic before serving.
picture of the dish when I cooked it last Labor Day weekend
AND
La Cocina de Tita Moning’s Baked Lapu-Lapu on lower right (still without toasted garlic but normally, they sprinkle lots of toasted garlic to it before serving), image taken from their FB Page
This dish is already good for two to three people with normal appetites.
Please note that you may adjust the amount of ingredients as you deem necessary. If ever you’d like to cook this at your home, let me know how it turns out.
Happy eating! 🙂
May you choose happiness always,
Bonggang bongga naman itong baked lapu-lapu. I’ll try doing this, finally may oven na kami. I’ll baked this for my hubby. 😉
Go, sarap yan, sis. 🙂
Hatinggabi na and yet parang feel kong magluto ng ganyan.
Facundo! Maglayag ka at humuli ng lapulapu!!!
Naku, kawawang Facundo…hahaha. 🙂
I really need to get the oven in our house working! Natakam ako sa post mo. I’m really not a fan of fish, but your recipe looks promising. And I must say, di nagkakalayo ang finished product mo with La Cocina’s version. Ma-try nga yan, pag napagana ko na oven namin. Haha! :p
Yes, sis. Naku, sana maayos na oven mo para makapagbake ka na. Thank you! Haha. Buti na lang close kami ng chef sa La Cocina, nakakapagtanong ako how to make this and that. 🙂
Lapu-lapu is my favorite fish. Thanks for sharing this recipe—it’s a welcome difference from the usual sweet and sour we cook at home. Will definitely try 🙂
I hope you like it when you try coking it at home. 🙂
Parang ang sarap sarap naman nyan. Wala nga lang kaming oven. Bibili palang ako nung gaya ng sayo. Haahha! Once nakabili na ako, papakita ko to kay jowa. Harhar!
Go, sis! Confident ako na masarap yan, hehe. 🙂