Mediterranean Baked Branzino

So last night I went to a fun fun girl's night at my friend's house. There were 7 of us and the theme was Mediterranean, we each brought various yummy delights - hummus, baklava, dolmades, watermelon and feta salad, herbed rack of lamb etc etc. I decided to venture out of my comfort zone and try something I love to eat (whole fish) but had only tried cooking once before about 7 years ago (turned out OK from recollection!). This dish wasn't my dish choice when I was thinking of my pot luck contribution, but boy am I glad I made it, it was so delicious and I would love to share it with you.

So here's the backstory.  I headed to my local fancy schmancy supermarket that sells great product, fresh baked bread and really fantastic meats and seafood. When I arrived there I had originally intended to make a marinated Octopus salad but I was super disappointed to find that the only octopus and squid they sold was frozen. It was 1:30pm and I had to be at my friend's house at 6:30pm.  Being Australian, I have been spoilt with always fresh-never frozen seafood and buying the product frozen in a package made me incredibly nervous! I put it in my cart, started to walk away and all kinds of thoughts crossed my mind What if I can't thaw this out in time? Will I screw up this dish and force everyone to eat rubber? Am I making life harder for myself with this dish? I went with my gut instinct (excuse the pun!) and put the packet back in the freezer case. 

While I waited for service, I thought to myself When I think of the Mediterranean, what dishes do I think of? My first thought was whole fish-lemons-olive oil. Turns out I had two choices that day for whole fish: red snapper or branzino.  Branzino!!! How could I pass this up? Well, if you don't know, Branzino is a European Bass with a delicate white flaky flesh, lots of bones and fairly small but is absolutely synonymous with Mediterranean or Italian food.

The fishmonger was nice enough to remove the gills and guts and I had the option to have the heads removed but opted to keep them and the tails for a prettier presentation (isn't it odd that a dead animal's head on a plate makes the dish look stunning!?! Crazy!)

So here's how I prepared it (super easy and very delicious)

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 32 mins

Oven Temp: 325F

Serves: (1 fish per person as a main meal or 1 fish for 2-3 people as a shared appetizer) Roughly .5-1lb per fish

Ingredients:

1-2 Branzini (about .8lb per fish)

Herbs - flat leaf parsley, dill and fresh oregano

Lemons

Olive Oil

1-2 cloves garlic thinly sliced

1 Shallot thinly sliced

Salt

Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 325F

2. To a baking sheet or oven proof dish, drizzle a  tsp of olive oil and lay the fish presentation side up.

3. Cut three slits to the presentation side of the fish

4. Season the entire fish with salt and pepper. Don't forget the cavity of the fish.

5. Fill the cavity of the fish with lemon slices, the sliced garlic, shallots and whole springs of dill, flat leaf parsley and oregano. Reserve a few garlic slices for the slits and insert the slices in the slits.

6. Season again with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and top with a few thin slices of lemon. 

7. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the fish and bake uncovered for about 32 minutes.

8. Allow the fish to rest for a few minutes but do serve as soon as possible.

9. After resting, transfer the fish carefully to a serving platter.  Garnish with more lemon slices and wedges, a drizzle of olive oil and chopped flat leaf parsley, dill and fresh oregano. Sprinkle sea salt and serve with a light salad of dressed greens with shaved fennel and red onion.

**Note: be careful, this fish (albeit delicious) has lots of little bones.  Be very careful if you are feeding this fish to children, though I probably would not recommend it.