Baking in a salt crust is one of the most effective ways of cooking a whole fish. Not only is it dramatic to unveil the flesh from under a firm cast of salt at the dinner table, but the salt also traps all the moisture in the flesh while delicately seasoning it.
Ingredients
- 1 lemon, zested and cut into wedges
- 8 cups (1.5 kg) coarse sea salt
- 2 whole sea bream or sea bass (1 lb/450 g each), gutted and rinsed
- 1 bunch sorrel or flat-leaf parsley
- 2 egg whites
- Steamed new potatoes, tossed in butter, for serving
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
- In a large bowl, combine the lemon zest with the salt. Stuff two lemon wedges into the cavity of each fish, along with two sorrel leaves. Chop up the rest of the sorrel and set aside 2 or 3 tbsp for garnish. Mix the rest into the lemony salt, then mix in the egg whites. Spread half of the salt mixture over the lined baking sheet. Lay the fish on top (with a few inches between them). Cover the fish with the rest of the salt and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove the fish from the oven and use a knife to crack the crust and gently peel off the salt. Serve the fish immediately with steamed new potatoes. Sprinkle the reserved sorrel over the top.
