Romanian Fish Delight (Saramura de Peste)

We have some awesome friends who love fishing and shared their last catch with us.  Granted, you can buy whole fish at the grocery store, but it doesn't even compare in taste and texture with fresh fish.  As soon as I saw this beautiful trout, this dish popped in my mind.  Is a childhood favorite!  This is serious soul food!  Of course, you have to serve this with simple mamaliga to make it a truly authentic Romanian dish.
It is best if you have a griddle to cook the fish on.  I don't have one, so I just used a big skillet, which still did the job very well.  So, basically, the fish is cooked on a bed of sea salt, then quickly simmered in a broth of veggies.
Super easy and the taste will blow your mind!  Enjoy!

 Ingredients:
-2 whole fish (trout, carp, etc), cleaned, with scales still on
-2 cups sea salt
-6 cups water
-1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes with zesty jalapenos
-1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
-3 cloves garlic, chopped
Directions:
Place a griddle or large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add 1 1/2 cups salt and let it heat for about 2 minutes.
Pat the fish dry and place on the heated salt in the skillet, like this:

Place the water in a large, but shallow skillet (like a wok).  Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, after the fish cooked for about 6 minutes, flip it onto the other side, adding the rest of the sea salt under it.  It should look like this: 

Cook for 5 minutes on this other side.

While the fish is cooking on the second side, add the tomatoes with the juice, bell pepper and garlic to the boiling water.

Once the fish is done cooking, carefully, add it to the boiling water.  Cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat.

Scoop the fish onto a plate and, using a slotted spoon, scoop some of the veggies on top of the fish.  Serve with mamaliga.  Enjoy! YUM!