Fish Friday: Whole Roasted Fish in Salt

Fresh whole fish is a small luxury. Especially in Rome where seafood is well, not cheap! I do miss a Costco when I see the seafood prices here. When I do want to splurge - I go for a small whole fish. It is a fun and elegant way to serve and its actually quite fool-proof. And yes, it bakes in a big ol’pile of salt, but the fish is not at all salty. It is a fun dish to make with kids, when piling on the salt and then breaking the salt crust that keeps in all the moisture and flavor. Hand them a meat mallet and let the salt fly :)

Ingredients

• one small whole fish, 1 kg/slightly less than 2 pounds (branzino/spigola/bass or orata/sea bream)

• 750 grams/4 cups of kosher or rock salt (Table salt will not work! It is too fine and will get in the fish)

• one egg

• 1/4 cup/60 ml of water

• one lemon, sliced

• handful of fresh aromatics(here I used basil, parsely and celery leaves - or tarragon is nice too)

• kitchen string(I used a piece of raffia because I didn’t have string)

• roasting pan

  Directions

  Preheat the oven to 400 F/200C.

  If possible, have the fishmonger gut and de/scale the fish for you. They will do a better job. Rinse the fish and pat dry. Stuff the fish with the lemon, basil, parsely and celery leaves. You might only use half the lemon. Tie the fish so that it can be somewhat sealed, it doesn’t have to be perfect, because you can cover that part with lemon slices. Mix the salt, whole egg and water in a bowl and mix through - it will be a sort of sandy paste. Put a layer down for the fish and lay the fish over. If you don’t have kitchen string, or some parts of the fish are still exposed on the side, cover this with some lemon slices. You don’t want the salt to get in the fish or it will be VERY salty. Cover the body of the fish completely.

  Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. I check to see if the fish is done by sticking in a fork into the body of the fish - if the fork is hot, the fish is ready(or use a thermometer and it should be 135 F/58C). Remove from the oven and let it sit for a few minutes to cool off. Now the fun part! Break the crust with a knife and carefully remove the fish from the pan on to a cutting board. The fish will flake off easily. Watch out for the small bones! Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and the remaining lemon slices. Done!