The older I get, the more I appreciate recipes with a clear point of view, and Baked Branzino certainly has one. I like to let a main dish take center stage and keep everything around it relaxed. There is something comforting about letting the oven take over while the table comes together.
Ingredients
- 1 whole Branzino (600 grams) or any other white fish you prefer
- 4 large Roma tomatoes (roughly chopped)
- 2 Serrano chili (fine chop )
- 4 cloves garlic (fine chop)
- 1 handful walnuts (roughly chopped)
- 1 bunch cilantro (roughly chopped)
- Juice from one lime
- Salt and black pepper
- A dash of 7 spice
- Sliced onion rounds
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Sprinkle the fish with salt inside and out let sit for 5 minutes then rise with cold water. Pat dry!
- Preheat the oven to 425 F.
- Make the filling: combine all the ingredients and drizzle with olive oil generously, taste for salt and adjust.
- Place the fish in a 9×13 baking dish, stuff the cavity with the filling and spread the rest of the filling around the fish. Make 2 slits in the skin on top sprinkle with salt and place sliced rounds of onion on top, drizzle olive oil on the onions.
- Cover with wet parchment paper and bake for 35 minutes, uncover and cook for another 10 minutes to get some color on the fish. If you notice the filling drying up in the pan add a 1/4 cup water.
- Enjoy with rustic bread.