moroccan fish skewers with barramundi
Moroccan Fish Skewers with barramundi are flavorful, spiced and incredibly delicious! Serve these skewers over a bed of couscous with a dollop of mint yogurt sauce for dipping.
It’s Spring – or so the calendar says – and while we’ve still been receiving occasional dustings of snow and mornings with temperatures in the low teens, my seasonal urge to grill is here. And it will be here until the pumpkins ripen on the vines.
I love grilling and am always looking for something a little different to grill up. Last week, when the urge to throw on my parka and dust off the old grill hit me, I turned to my new favorite fish, barramundi, for some inspiration.
Barramundi is high in Omega-3 and is a fantastic, sustainable seafood option. The meatiness of barramundi and it’s firm, white flesh stand up to any flavors you throw at it. So far, I have kept the flavors light and fresh with my barramundi en papillote and crispy skinned barramundi recipes, but this time I wanted to put it to the test. I wanted to surround barramundi with strong, spicy flavors and see how it held up.
I was not disappointed. Not. At. All.
The idea for my Moroccan Fish Skewers came from a restaurant that I went to over the holidays with my family. The restaurant is a favorite of my sister-in-law’s and her family and it truly was fantastic. The walls of the dining room were surrounded with upholstered benches and each small round table had several low ottomans around it for additional seating. The kids got a kick out of the atmosphere, and I absolutely adored the food.
We ordered an incredible eggplant salad and when it came, it was nothing like I expected. First, it did not resemble any type of salad I had ever seen, and looked more like a plate full of stewed tomatoes and spices. The eggplant wasn’t immediately evident and I wasn’t even sure how exactly to start eating it. So, we just picked up some pita bread and dug in.
Oh, my. That was a combination of flavors that I won’t soon forget. It was spicy, but not too hot with a hint of sweetness that I absolutely couldn’t stop eating. While I was having a hard time placing the main flavor, it was my niece who pinpointed the sun dried tomatoes. It was a thick, rich sauce full of sweet, sun dried tomatoes and Moroccan spices. It was these flavors that I wanted to capture in my Moroccan Fish Skewers.
For this recipe, I marinated the barramundi in a Moroccan-spiced sun dried tomato sauce and paired it with zucchini, onion and thin ribbons of carrot for a unique take on grilled fish skewers. A quick mint yogurt sauce made for a cool, refreshing dip for these spiced skewers.
These Moroccan Fish Skewers were a hit with the entire family and I will be making them again very soon!
Hopefully next time, I can leave my parka inside.
Happy Wednesday!
Moroccan Fish Skewers with Barramundi
Yield: 4-6 servings
Prep Time: 3-4 hours (inactive prep)
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours 45 minutes
Ingredients
Directions
Cut barramundi into 1 1/2 inch cubes (about 6 chunks per filet) and place into a large bowl.
In the bowl of a food processor, place the next 11 ingredients (red onion through cilantro) and process until incorporated. Season with salt and pepper and add 1-2 tablespoons reserved oil from sun dried tomatoes and process again until a thick sauce forms. Reserve 1/4 cup of sun dried tomato mixture for dipping and pour the remainder of the mixture over the barramundi. Mix together well to coat the fish. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours.
Heat outdoor, or indoor grill pan, to medium high heat. If using an indoor grill pan, spray with non-stick spray or rub with oil. Build your skewers: Skewer barramundi pieces, zucchini rounds, onion wedges and carrot ribbons (folding the carrots back and forth like ribbon candy) onto metal skewers in an alternating pattern. If using woolens skewers, soak in water for 30 minutes prior to building your skewers.
Grill fish skewers for about 10-15 minutes or until fish is cooked and the vegetables are tender and roasty. Serve skewers with reserved sun dried tomato sauce, mint yogurt dipping sauce (see notes) and couscous. Enjoy!
Notes:
Mint Yogurt Dipping Sauce
In a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup plain yogurt, 2-3 tbs grated cucumber, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1 tbs mint leaves, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp lemon juice. Serve with Moroccan Fish Skewers. Enjoy!
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post via NoshOn.It Publishing Partners Program by a leading Barramundi producer. All opinions are, as always, 100% my own.
Mmm.. these skewers look divine. And yhe sound of that sauce sounds delicious too
Thank you so much, Rochelle!
The flavors sound absolutely divine! I’m not as brave as you to put on my parka for grilling, but the first warm day we get I’m going to try this out! Probably with some kale and radish tabbouleh and lots of grilled veggies.
The kale and radish tabbouleh sounds amazing, Lea! Thanks for stopping by!
I’m totally loving what you’ve done with the barramundi!! These skewers look amazing!
Thank you so much, Kelli!
Pinning to make after the baby is born! We always have lots of fish in the freezer!
Congratulations, Katie!! I’m so happy for you!
This. This is my kind of dish. Oh my goodness. I’m absolutely making these as soon as I can get a refill on my propane for my grill!
They were so good, Rebecca! I hope you guys love them, thanks so much for stopping by!
Wow–I just got even more excited for spring/grilling weather! These look delicious!
Grilling is the best! Thanks for stopping by, Sarah!
These are simply gorgeous. The sauce is just lovely.
Thank you so much, Shaina!
Looks tasty! maybe a thicker skewer could be used with the fish
Thanks, Deb! Yes, you could definitely use a thicker skewer if you had them. Luckily, these thinner ones worked great, too! Thanks so much for stopping by!
May I know which camera that you used?Thank you
Hi Torres, I use a Canon 6D. Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you ~
I really like your blog so much
I come from China,from these photos of food that you made,I can see how a big different about culture of food between western and China.
Thank you so much for sharing these fantastic food with us ~
I will try to cook at home and share with my families,of course I will tell them that I learned these from Jelly ~
Have a nice day ~
You’re welcome, Torres! Thanks for stopping back!
I cannot wait to make this! I love all the flavors you have going on here and I think using carrot ribbons is the smartest thing I’ve seen. They never seem to cook when they’re sliced. And of course, your pics are stunning. 🙂
Yes! That’s exactly why I cut them that way! I love carrots with Moroccan flavors, and wanted to incorporate them and this was the easiest way to do that without having to par cook them first (I didn’t want to mess around with that). Thanks for stopping by, Lindsey!
Absolutely gorgeous. This looks like such a wonderful meal!
Thank you so much, Brenda!
These look too gorgeous to eat, I think I’d be happy staring at them all night! I love the way you cut and threaded the carrots!
Crazy for Moroccan flavors, and these skewers look right up our cooking alley! As well it may be a way to get Lenny to eat zucchini!
Thanks, Denise!! I hope Lenny approves 😉
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