1 600g Line caught Sea Bass gutted, but with scales on1 small bunch of fennel½ a lemon, slicedFreshly ground black pepper1 kg of coarse Sea Salt2 large free range egg whites1 tbsp of fennel seeds
If your oven wasn’t on already because of your potatoes, set it now to 180C/ 350F/ Gas4.
This dish is all about enhancing the beautiful flavours of fresh fish with minimal fuss so you want to get the freshest fish available to you.
Tip #1: How do you tell your fish is fresh? Since you’ll be buying the fish whole it makes the job easier. Have a look at the fish’s head; it wants to be clear of blood and have bright clear eyes. The fish’s body wants to be straight, without blood and with bright clear scales. Also it should only smell of the sea and nothing else.
Tip #2: You don’t have to use Sea Bass, try a Bream, a small Cod or even a Trout; they will all come out beautiful as long as they are fresh. Also go ahead and choose bigger fish, you’ll only have to change the cooking time (and make sure it fits in your oven).
Right, now that you have chosen your fish it’s time to prepare it. This is the crucial stage of this dish; you want to ask your fishmonger to gut your fish but not scale it or remove the gill plates. We can promise you that this cooking method produces the best fish you have tried but it’s essential that the fish is cooked whole as it will be inedible if you do it any other way, so keep your fish head on… it won’t bite…. Promise.
Now that your fish is chosen and gutted it’s time to give it some extra flavours. Open the belly cavity and sprinkle with a bit of freshly ground black pepper, place a couple of slices of lemon in there and stuff the rest of the cavity with the fennel leaves, making sure it’s really full.
Tip #3: I Love fennel and fish but you might want to try other flavours, parsley, basil or chervil all go really well with fish so go ahead and explore.
Baking fish in salt means you will be creating an oven inside and oven so you need to make sure your salt holds its shape and seals the fish baking it in its own juices. Grab a big bowl and pour all the salt in there ( yes all 1 kg of it… I know it looks too much but trust me it won’t go into the fish), then add the fennel seeds and the 2 egg whites; mix well until you have a kind of a slush.
Tip #4: If you are using bigger fishes you’ll need more of this salt mixtures so don’t forget to raise the quantities of it.
Right on to the fun part now…. Get an oven tray and place a thin but even layer of salt mixture on the bottom of the tray. Lay your fish on the salt and gently pour the reaming salt on top of the fish patting it down in order to compact it and seal all the holes.
Tip #5: You really want to seal this baby up, otherwise the cooking steam will escape and the fish will dry out.
Place the tray in the oven for 25 minutes while you finish your potatoes, do your salad and balsamic mayo.
Tip #6: If you are cooking a bigger fish you have to change your cooking times. The trick is to cook the fish for 20 minutes for each 500g so always weigh your fish before starting to make this dish.
Once the time is over remove the tray from the oven and gently stab the tip of a knife all along the sides of the fish in order to release it. Remove the top layer of salt (it should all come out as a whole now) and pull the skin off.
Tip #7: Please watch yourself during this process as the salt crust can go quite hard making it difficult to penetrate it with your knife. Also watch out when you lift the “salt lid” as the hot steam will be released.
Serve it in the centre of the table so everyone can help themselves to pieces of juice fish, fresh summer salad, punched potatoes and balsamic mayo.