This is a fast, fuss free and family friendly seafood dish that I have made several times. It tastes and smells amazing with mouth-watering ginger-lime flavours and punchy garlic, plus it is packed with essential nutrients for growing bodies and minds. 

My children call this “fake seafood”. This of course is their idea of a joke, because there is clearly nothing fake about the ingredients. Allow me to explain…Previously I would go into a fishmonger and buy each separate base ingredient which I would then shell, skin and dice up into bite sized pieces. Very time consuming. My children were accustomed to seeing me purchase seafood in this way. 

Recently I stumbled across a conveniently packaged seafood selection in the Coles supermarket where I shop each week. It is FRESH, not frozen and sold under the John West brand and it is so popular, that it sells out really quickly. So whenever I spot this selection I buy whatever is on the refrigerated shelf. My children shy away with embarrassment as I stock up the shopping trolley with each packet of seafood. They react the same way when I buy toilet paper in bulk. 

I do go along with their joke and when my brood asks,”What’s for dinner?” I smile and answer, “Fake Seafood!”. 

Oven Baked Lime and Ginger Seafood to serve 8 people generously

Ingredients
4 x garlic cloves finely diced
finely grated rind of 2 limes
1/2 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon chilli – This will add flavour rather than heat, making it suitable as a family meal. However you may like to increase the amount of chilli if you are looking for more bite.
4 tablespoons olive oil
50 grams unsalted butter melted (I used the microwave for this). If you don’t want to use butter, you can substitute with extra olive oil. 
lime juice
sea salt
about 1.7 kg mixed seafood (calamari, prawns that have been shelled and de-veined , salmon, sea bass or other firm white fleshed fish). A good quality marinara mix from your local fishmonger would also work well, if you can’t find a fresh packaged seafood selection from the supermarket.  
a couple of handfuls of roughly chopped, fresh flat leaf parsley and mint

Start off by preheating your oven to 220 degrees conventional setting or 200 degrees fan-forced. 

Put the seafood, garlic, lime rind, ginger, chilli, olive oil and melted butter into a deep bowl and mix through gently adding sea salt to taste. 

Scoop this mixture into 2 large baking or roasting pans making sure the seafood is spread evenly across the base of each pan. 

Slide into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. 

Remove when cooked and squeeze over the juice from the two limes along with the fresh herbs. Serve with steamed rice which can be tossed through the seafood to soak up the delicious juices.