The Easiest Dinner You're Not Making: Baked Whole Fish!

I was reluctant to start sharing recipes on my blog, for two main reasons. The first being that I'm absolutely awful at giving recipes. Every time someone asks me how I make something, I cringe. I can be extremely ADD in the kitchen, throwing things together and having no idea how it happened in the end. My idea of a recipe includes a lot of "some" and "a bit of" and little tangible measurements like "cups" and "tablespoons". In fact, I don't even own a set of measuring cups. The second reason I have no business food blogging is that as we move every year into someone else's kitchen, I'm usually left working with whatever plates, utensils and pots and pans they've left available to me. Do not be mistaken, they are never glamorous and I usually struggle to find any two things in the kitchen that actually came from the same collection. So here is my forewarning, my pictures are from my iPhone and I would never pick out the heinous plates and tablewear you will see in the subsequent photos. (Side note: If you do want to look at a real, professional, fabulous food blog with gorgeous photos, you should check out my sister-in-laws here.

The best type of meals are the ones that look super impressive to your guests, but actually take little to no effort whatsoever. I'm a huge seafood fan, we eat fish in our house at least 3-4 times/week. However, up until our move to Spain, I was always too intimidated to prepare a whole fish. In our town in Northwest Spain, in what is called the Galician region, seafood is King. You can get incredible quality seafood for really great prices. My new favorite easy dinner meal here is Baked Whole Dorada, a whole white fish that also goes by Dorade and Sea Bream. I think Dorada is only available on this side of the Atlantic, so a whole Sea Bass or any flaky white fish would also do. Served with your veggie of choice, I use zucchini here but asparagus and potatoes are also great (the potatoes will need to cook a bit longer ahead of time). I typically prefer the fish left completely whole, with the head on, but struggled to communicate that to the woman working in the seafood department so you can do as you wish. 

Ingredients:

2 Whole Dorada Fish, ask them to clean it and butterfly it for you (or do it yourself if you're into that)

1/4 cup olive oil + 1 tbsp for drizzling

A head of garlic

Fresh Rosemary

Fresh Thyme

1/4 Cup Parsley

1 Lemon, sliced thin

1 Lemon, juiced

1 Cup, cherry tomatoes

1 Zucchini, sliced or a bundle of Asparagus

1/4 Cup white wine (+ more for you to drink while preparing)

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (200 C) 
• In a blender or food processor, blend olive oil, lemon juice, 3 sprigs rosemary, 3 sprigs thyme,  1/4 cup of parsley, 3 cloves of garlic, salt and pepper into a paste
• Pat your fish dry with a paper towel and sprinkle all over with salt and pepper
• Score (slash across the skin) each side of the fish a few times.
• Rub mixture all over your whole fish, the outsides and inside. Stuff each fish with 2-3 slices of lemon, a couple springs of the fresh herbs, and a few cloves of sliced garlic. Leave in fridge for 2 hours to marinate (if you're pressed for time, you can go ahead and cook it, but I recommend marinating)
  
• Lay fish on a piece of parchment paper and scatter cherry tomatoes and your vegetable of choice around the fish. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, whole garlic cloves and a few sprigs of herbs. Pour in white wine.
  
  
  
  
• Cook fish for 15-20 minutes depending on your preference, taking the fish out about half way through to baste with the white wine sauce. Depending on your oven, you may want to turn it up to 450 for the last few minutes or so to crisp up the skin.
  
• Serve with pan sauce spooned on top of fish
   
  

Other Variations of this Recipe:

• The first time I cooked this, I omitted the rub and just drizzled each fish with olive oil and laid the herbs in the middle. It was also delicious if you're in a rush and don't have time to make the marinade!
• Add black olives and fresh mint and serve with tzatziki to make a greek style fish

  

  My first attempt at a whole fish, with the head left on.

  

  If serving with potatoes, let them bake first for 20 or so minutes before adding the fish

I couldn't have been more wrong about the complexity of cooking a whole fish and it has now become an easy weekday staple in our house! Give it a try and let me know what you think.