Salt Baked Sea Bass

In the spirit of seasonality, and with Sea Bass coming into season in November, which is just around the corner, here's a recipe you can try out, and please let me know what you think.

Serves two

This recipe can also be used for firm fleshed fish like snapper, grouper, sea bream etc. For ease of serving once the salt is finally removed, ask your fishmonger to scale and bone the fish from the underside, but leaving the 2 fillets attached, head on and removing the central pin bones running down the center of the fillets. The fish ends up looking a bit like a kipper, but once stuffed with some whole herbs and folded back over its back to its normal shape

1 x 1.2 kg sea bass, prepared as above

350g coarse sea salt

350g table salt

A few sprigs of dill, parsley and thyme with the stalks on

The day before, mix the 2 salts with about 200ml of water and leave in a covered bowl at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7.

Put the herbs inside the fish and fold over to it’s original shape. Put the fish onto a baking tray, drain the excess water from the salt mixture and mold it over and around the fish as compact as possible. Bake the fish for 35-40 minutes. To check if it’s cooked insert a metal skewer or roasting fork through the salt into the center of the fish, if it’s hot it is cooked.

To serve, break the salt with the back of a knife and scrape away from the fish. Divide the fish into two removing the head and serve with a butter based sauce such as a beurre blanc. This can be done by simply whisking some cold cubes of butter into a couple tablespoons of heated white wine and seasoning with salt and pepper and adding some chopped dill.

Pan fried cherry tomatoes and asparagus go really well with this dish as well.  

Bon Appétit

Tips for this dish - 5 ways to choose your fish and check it's quality and freshness

1. Look at the eyes. Very fresh fish have clear eyes, which are bulging. Older fish have cloudy eyes that are sagging inwards. Saggy, is not good.
2. Smell the fish. Fish that smells fishy is old. Fish that smells like the sea (briny) is fresh.
3. The body should be covered in a kind of "slime". Now, normally we don't think of slime as a good thing when selecting our dinner, but fish that sit around on ice for a while, dry up and loose their sea coating.
4. The fish should feel plump and firm. Press in on the body of the fish; the flesh should bounce back. If your finger leaves an indentation mark that stays, then the fish is older.
5. Open up the gills. Gills that are bright and dark in coloration are a sign of fresher fish. As the fish ages, the gills get more pale in color, browner.