This chard couscous stuffed fish is a delicious take on baked whole fish. With a lemony undertone, this dish is flavorful and impressive looking too.

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If you read this blog regularly, you'll know that our household's fish of choice is salmon these days. Interestingly, though, that wasn't always the case. When we lived in the UK, it was probably equally split between salmon and sea bass or sea bream.

I say bass or bream as the naming on them seems to vary from the UK to the US and what is generally considered bass here is a lot bigger. In any event, they are quite closely related and both delicious.

When the theme for this month's Fish Friday Foodies was set as stuffed whole fish, I was pretty sure I wanted to use bass/bream. After thinking about a few different options, I decided to use some of the flavors from the Sicilian-style stuffed squid I made previously to make this chard, lemon and couscous stuffed fish. It's a dish that not only looks great, it tastes fantastic as well. Plus, it's pretty easy to make and healthy too.

The inspiration for this couscous stuffed fish

Many years ago, in the days when I used to have time to try out more recipes that took a bit of time, I remember one we had a couple times was an almond-raisin-spiced couscous stuffed quail.

Couscous makes a great base for a stuffing as it can take on lots of different flavors. It's also quick to make and easy to mix with various other ingredients.

Chard and lemon were ideal flavor partners for this couscous stuffed fish and they compliment the fish so well. I used sea bream but most relatively mild white fish would be fine. I'd say bass, branzini or snapper would also be good.

How to make this baked whole fish with couscous stuffing

First you gently cook some onion in some olive oil.
Meanwhile, cover some couscous with boiling water.
Add the chard stalks and garlic, cook a minute to soften them.
Then add the chard leaves and wilt them down.
Remove the chard mixture from heat, add the lemon juice and zest along with the couscous and a little parsley.
Score the skin of the fish, fill the cavity with the couscous and bake until the fish is cooked.

We had this couscous stuffed fish with some green beans and roasted carrots and it was all so delicious. True, once you take the fish off the bone it is less attractive, but it doesn't matter as soon as you take a bite. Everything is moist and aromatically flavored, and with the couscous stuffing it's nicely filling without being at all heavy.

This lemony chard couscous stuffed fish is such a tasty meal that is great whether served to impress guests or just because. Either way, it's definitely one to try.

Try these other tasty fish mains:

Chinese oven steamed fish
Persian herb rice with fish - sabzi polow mahi
Baked swordfish and asparagus with lentils and chermoula
Plus get more seafood recipes in the archives.

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5 from 5 votes