Baked whole Exmouth Red Emperor with prawns and lemongrass

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The Gascoyne region in the north-west of our State is sometimes called the “food bowl of Western Australia”. It includes the regions of Exmouth, Carnarvon and Shark Bay and forms the gateway to the world-famous Ningaloo Reef where you are able to swim in the sea alongside the majestic whale sharks. The climate is warm all year round with average temperatures ranging from around 25- 30 C allowing an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables to be cultivated including bananas, mangos and tomatoes.

The region is also well known for its freshly caught seafood which includes snapper, mullet, whiting, prawns, scallops and crab. I am really looking forward to our travels up North for the WA Signature Dish regional final in early May as I know I will be literally living on seafood. After a whole month of Eat Drink Perth overindulgence my heart and liver will surely be thanking me.

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In the lead up to our Gascoyne road trip I was inspired to cook one of my old time favourites from a Kylie Kwong book my mother bought me years ago. The original recipe was for a 750 gram snapper however when I sent the Boy to the fishmongers to gather all the ingredients I needed, he came back with a 3 kg Red Emperor. Slight difference! I shouldn’t complain, a whole Exmouth Red Emperor with prawns sounds and looks even more impressive than a snapper.

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His reasoning was that it was much prettier than the snapper. Fair call. Additionally I believe it is one of the most beautiful tasting fish caught from the Gascoyne region. To allow for the super-sizing I have had to amend quantities and cooking times from the original recipe. I have also made some adaptations to utilise more Gascoyne ingredients including tomatoes and fresh chilli. and of course I have ensured it is gluten free and fructose friendly

Enjoy!

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Baked whole Exmouth Red Emperor with prawns and lemongrass | Gluten Free | Fructose Friendly
Author: 
Recipe type: Seafood
Cuisine: Modern Asian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 3-4
 
Ingredients
  • 400 gm cherry tomatoes
  • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 bunch tarragon
  • Cracked white pepper
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 x 2-3kg whole Red Emperor, scaled, cleaned and gutted
Prawn and lemongrass stuffing
  • 320gm fresh uncooked prawn meat, roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons finely diced lemongrass
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tablespoon finely sliced ginger
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon gluten free soy sauce/tamari
  • 1 teaspoon white sugar
Garnish
  • 1 tablespoon very finely sliced lemongrass cut on the diagonal
  • 1 tablespoon finely sliced large red chilli
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 150C (300F).
Roasted tomatoes (I don’t start cooking these until the fish has been in the oven for 30 mins, see below)
  1. Place the cherry tomatoes in a large roasting tin, drizzle with half of the olive oil and sprinkle with tarragon sprigs, pepper and half the salt.
  2. Cover the tin with foil and roast for 30 minutes.
  3. Removed foil and roast for a further 5 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft and wilted. Remove tomatoes from the oven and set aside to cool slightly before drizzling with vinegar and sprinkling with the remaining salt.
Baked Red Emperor
  1. Meanwhile, put all the stuffing ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pat fish dry with paper towel and place on a large, oiled oven tray. Fill fish cavity with stuffing mixture, drizzle with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle with a little pepper. Wrap the tail of the fish in foil to prevent it burning when in the oven.
  2. Cover tray the whole tray with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and roast for a further 25-35 minutes depending on the size of the fish, it should be just cooked through when tested. The flesh should be white through to the bone. If the flesh is still translucent, cook for another minute or so.
  3. Carefully slide the fish into a large, shallow bowl. Pour over reserved tomatoes with their pan juices and garnish with lemongrass and chilli. Serve immediately.
 
This recipe is adapted from Kylie Kwong’s “Heart and Soul”, Penguin Books (2003)
"Red Emperor with prawns" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "food photos" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "gluten free cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "food event" "WA signature dish" "buy west eat best" "signature dish" "Kylie Kwong" "baked snapper" "baked Red emperor" "baked fish with tomato" "baked fish with lemongrass" "roasted toamto" ""raost snapper" "roasted red emperor" "Gascoyne" "Gascoyne food" "western australian seafood" "fish recipe" "baked snapper recipe" "baked Red emperor recipe" "baked fish with tomato recipe" "red emperor"
 
"Red Emperor with prawns" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "food photos" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "gluten free cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "food event" "WA signature dish" "buy west eat best" "signature dish" "Kylie Kwong" "baked snapper" "baked Red emperor" "baked fish with tomato" "baked fish with lemongrass" "roasted toamto" ""raost snapper" "roasted red emperor" "Gascoyne" "Gascoyne food" "western australian seafood" "fish recipe" "baked snapper recipe" "baked Red emperor recipe" "baked fish with tomato recipe" "red emperor"
"Red Emperor with prawns" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "food photos" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "gluten free cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "food event" "WA signature dish" "buy west eat best" "signature dish" "Kylie Kwong" "baked snapper" "baked Red emperor" "baked fish with tomato" "baked fish with lemongrass" "roasted toamto" ""raost snapper" "roasted red emperor" "Gascoyne" "Gascoyne food" "western australian seafood" "fish recipe" "baked snapper recipe" "baked Red emperor recipe" "baked fish with tomato recipe" "red emperor"
 

6 Thoughts on “Baked whole Exmouth Red Emperor with prawns and lemongrass

    • It’s actually a lot easy than it sounds. And the flavour beats a fillet hand down. Let me know how you go!

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  2. Such a truly beautiful specimen of fish. I love that delicious pile of sweet tomatoes, surely bursting with flavour against that delicate ruby tone of the fish. Looks amazing!

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