Good Friday – fish day
This weekend it’s Easter, the feast of Spring and new beginnings. And it’s, above all, a nice long weekend with your loved ones around the table. Whether you’re having a traditional Easter breakfast with eggs or just cook whatever you like: Good Friday is a perfect day for this fancy but easy fish dish.
A whole fish; I always find that a bit exciting ;-). But there’s nothing to worry about: just ask your fishmonger to clean it for you. Buy the fish including the head and bones though, because that’s where the flavour is.
If you don’t cook a lot of fish, like me, the easiest way to prepare a whole fish is to cook it in the oven. An additional advantage of this preparation method is that you can add all kinds of vegetables to the oven tray: less washing up ;-). Besides you have the opportunity to drink a glass of wine with your guests instead of being in the kitchen all the time. Don’t sip your wine for too long though: once in the oven, this dish is ready in only 30 minutes.
So early rise and shine tomorrow morning to get the best fresh sea bass from your local market or store; I promise you it’s worth it!
Oven baked sea bass with homemade herb butter and roast potatoes
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 400 gr of small roseval potatoes
- 1 red onion
- few springs of thyme
- olive oil
- 2 beautiful fresh sea basses
- splash of dry white wine to deglaze
- bunch of turnip tops
- salt and pepper
For the herb butter:
- small bunch of dill
- small bunch of chive
- few springs of parsley
- 100 gr of unsalted butter + extra for frying
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and put a full kettle on
- To make the herb butter: finely chop the herbs, mix through the butter and season with salt and pepper
- Roll the butter in plastic wrap to form a tube. Twist the ends of the wrap tightly together to seal the ends. Refrigerate until ferm
- Cut the potatoes in half. Blanch them in boiling water for about 5 minutes until just cooked (cheat tip: if you use precooked skin potatoes for your supermarket you can skip the boiling part). Place in a oven tray that’s large enough for the 2 sea basses
- Cut the red onion into wedges, mix through the potatoes and sprinkle with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper
- Roast the vegetables for 15 minutes in the preheated oven
- If necessary rins the fish with cold water. Make a few incisions on both sides of the fish and season with salt and pepper
- Lightly fry the sea basses on both sides in some oil with a knob of butter
- Place the fish on the potatoes, divide a few slices of herb butter on the fish and sprinkle with some white wine
- Bake for another 15 min until cooked
- Garnish with some washed and dried turnip tops. Delicious with a simple green salad
You see, an whole fish isn’t that hard or scary ;-). Instead of sea bass you could also use trout, don’t forget the cooking time for this fish will be a bit shorter. Any herb butter left? Perfect for the Easter breakfast table or with fresh bread as a starter before dinner.
Happy Easter everyone!
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