Fishy Business

May 11 2008 Michael Kilkie

No Codding..sea Bass Defies Its Fancy Image In This Simple 'One-Pot' Dish

From speaking to customers in the restaurant I know people often think of sea bass as a fancy, expensive or posh fish.

The likes of cod, salmon and haddock are seen as more "everyday" fish - although they are all more expensive than sea bass.

Cod is one of the most expensive fish at the moment. If your local chippie is using cod, the price of a fish supper will have gone through the roof.

Today's dish uses a whole gutted sea bass which is baked in the oven with a selection of potatoes and vegetables.

This makes it a really easy, one-dish dinner with everything you need cooked together in one baking dish or roasting tray.

You should be able to buy whole sea bass fairly easily and if they are not already scaled and gutted, the fishmonger will do this for you.

A lot of people are put off eating whole fish because the head is still attached. This makes them squeamish and because the fish isn't filleted they are worried about leaving in bones.

You can ask the fishmonger to take the head off for you but you'll lose out in the drama and presentation of the dish.

And you needn't worry about bones. When serving a whole fish the meat simply pulls off the bones.

What you choose to cook with the fish is up to you. You just need to apply a little common sense, for instance remembering that hard things such as potatoes will take longer to cook than the fish and other veg.

Potatoes should be par-boiled for around five minutes before going in the tray to get the cooking process started.

Veg such as peppers also benefit from being started ahead as your fish is only going to take 20-30 minutes to cook, depending on the size of it.

I would definitely recommend using fresh herbs.

I've used rosemary with my baked sea bass. It is is more often used in lamb dishes but I have found it also works really well with fish.

You can still make this dish with fillets but the cooking time will need to be adjusted down.

For this method, roast all the veg on their own and add the fillets for the last 8-10 minutes.

You can use thicker fish fillets such as cod or halibut but again you'll need to adjust the cooking time according to size, around 15 minutes for a chunky cod fillet.

Not long to go until barbecue season and sea bass is great on the grill.

You can slash the skin and put in herbs and garlic, like today's recipe, but a better way for the barbecue is to stuff the fish.

Fresh herbs, garlic and a couple of slices of orange or lemon inserted in the cavity before cooking complement the smokiness of the barbecue.

BAKED SEA BASS

SERVES 4

4 small or 2 large sea bass, scaled and gutted

500g new potatoes, scrubbed and halved

1 bulb fennel, sliced

2 red peppers, sliced

2 yellow peppers, sliced

2 red onions, roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, sliced

Few sprigs of rosemary

Half glass dry white wine

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 lemon. halved

METHOD

Boil the potatoes for 4-5 minutes and drain. Make three slashes on the side of each fish and insert a small piece of rosemary and a slice of garlic in each.

Rub fish all over with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Heat rest of the oil in a roasting tray and add remaining rosemary and garlic and all the veg including the potatoes.

Season with salt and pepper and fry for two minutes. Place the fish on top, add wine and lemon and roast in the oven for 20-35 minutes until cooked.