Baby Grouper - Roasted

I'm a believer in cooking fish whole. I don't have a steamer for large fish, but I find a couple small fish fit well in my convection oven, which is perfect when I don't want to turn on the big oven.

We found a new oriental grocery store down the street, friendly, English speaking staff and hella variety. I stepped into the seafood section, since peanut's brain is in hyper-development, and to my surprise, there were several fresh baby grouper - something I had never seen in the East end. How could I pass this up?

Two decent sized fish, at $1.99/lb came up to $10.50. Completely worth it, I believe, especially as they gut and scale it for you. He asked if I wanted it cut up, and he nodded approval when he saw my horrified reaction. A fish like that, you keep whole.

They cleaned it perfectly. There wasn't a scale in sight, and there was minimal detailed cleaning I had to fix up. I washed them in some vinegar and they were ready to go.

Once prepared, I served with gently steamed snow peas (in mirin, sesame oil and garlic) and steamed rice garnished with green onions.

ROASTED GROUPER
Baby Grouper - 2 whole (gutted, scaled and cleaned)
Garlic (4 cloves, slivered)
Green Onion (3 stalks - chopped, reserve 1/4 for garnish)
Ginger (1 tsp, minced)
Sambal Olek Chili Paste (1 tbsp)
Canola Oil(4 tbsp)
Sesame Oil (1/2 tsp)
Black pepper (freshly ground) (1 tbsp)
Sea salt (1 tbsp)

1. Preheat the oven to 375F
2. In a bowl, mix together the garlic, green onion,ginger, sambal, and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
3. Rub the entire fish (inside and out) with the Canola and Sesame Oil mixture.
4. Sprinkle liberally half the black pepper and sea salt on one side of the fish (this will be the face-down, on-the-grill side).
5. Lay the fish (bellies in) on a grill rack (line the inside pan with tin foil).
6. Open the belly cavities and spoon in the herb mixture, divided equally between the two fish. Be sure to spread the mixture from head to tail and packed well enough so he bellies bulge, yet the skin can flap back over so the mixture is well encased inside the fish.
7. Sprinkle the remaining black pepper and sea salt over the fish, head to tail, and be generous with the seasoning.
8. Roast fish for 20-25 minutes, turning once halfway through cooking.
9. Broil for the final 3 minutes on high (this will crisp the skin to a nice golden colour).
10. Serve immediately over bed of rice and side of snow peas.