Fish plays an important part in much Italian regional cuisine. That’s not surprising considering the extent of the country’s coastline – particularly if you include that of the islands of Sicily and Sardinia.
The Italian method for preparing fish is generally very simple. This allows the natural flavour of the fish to come out. This recipe uses sea bass – which, like all fish, is best cooked as fresh as possible. The size of the fish will obviously vary – and the quantity of the other ingredients can obviously be adjusted as required. There is no heavy sauce, the flavour coming from the fish and the herbs.
Roasted Sea Bass Recipe
Serves 4-5
Ingredients:
- 1 large sea bass (about 3lb, 1.4 kg) or 2 small sea bass (about 1 lb, 0.5 kg) – washed and gutted
- 1 small red onion, finely chopped
- approx 3 tablespoons good olive oil
- 2 lemons
- 1 fennel bulb
- 4 fl oz (1/2 cup) dry white wine (or substitute good vegetable stock)
- salt/black pepper
Method:
- Preheat the over (to Gas 5, 375 F, 190 C). Then prepare the fennel by cutting off the whispy fronds and slice the bulb into small chunks. Squeeze the juice from one whole lemon (if you like a stronger lemon zing then add the juice of another half lemon). Keep the fronds of fennel aside.
- Heat the olive oil, add the chopped onion and chopped fennel, then sauté gently until softened. This will take about 5 minutes – keep stirring to stop them sticking to the pan. Remove from the heat.
- Make about three 1 cm slashes across the width of the skin of the sea bass (on both sides). Then cut some slices of lemon. Coat a roasting tin with oil, pop in the fish and push slices of lemon into the slashes. Then cover with the fennel and onion mix.
- Mix some olive oil with the freshly squeezed lemon juice – you can use a whisk. Pour it over the fish then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Cover the roasting tin with foil and cook in the over for around 30 minutes (if you have 2 small sea bass) or up to 50 minutes (if you have one large one). Timing will also depend on the thickness of the fish. It should be done when the fish starts to flake. Remove the foil for the last 10 minutes of cooking.
- Take the tin out of the oven. Add the wine (or stock) slowly and stir it over a medium heat. Spoon the liquid over the fish. Serve garnished with fennel fronds.
You can also grill sea bass, which is quicker than roasting. As well as fennel, other herbs such as basil and marjoram can be cooked with the fish. Or try cooking the sea bass with rosemary, a bay leaf and a chopped garlic clove – mixed with some salted water.
