Whole Salt-baked Branzino

Not all meals end up as planned. I had bought bag of mussels, but dallied a day too many and felt they looked a bit on the sad side which is the last thing you want to see with shellfish. So off to the fish store I went. There, buried in chipped ice, were silvery sleek Branzino (aka European sea bass). You find them more and more frequently featured on restaurant menus. The Italians have known about them, and how to cook them, forever. Americans are only now discovering how tasty a fish this really is.

My favorite way to prepare Branzino is also one of the most fun ways to cook fish:  a whole fish entombed in a salt cast. I know it may sound strange, won't it end up super-salty? But, in fact, the end results are a tender, succulent fish. And, it's really fun and easy to make and break down once cooked.
If the thought of dealing with a whole fish--head and all-- is too much, then ask your fish monger to gut and clean the fish but not to fillet it.


This recipe comes from one of my favorite cooking sources: Epicurious. I turn to them so often for recipes and ideas. They have a mobile app too which is perfect when I'm standing in the middle of a grocery store feeling uninspired, or want to check what goes into a certain dish, couldn't live without this site. If you want to see their version of the recipe, it's here.

For 4 servings you will need

• 2 whole Branzino, scaled, gutted, head and tail on
• 1 lemon,  thinly sliced
• 6-8 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 6-8 stems of parsley
• freshly ground pepper
• 2-3 lbs salt (semi-fine works best but I've used regular Morton's & coarse sea salt to good results)
• 3-4 egg whites

Set oven to 400 F. Place the fish on a sheet of oven foil. Lay lemon slices and herbs inside the cavity, season with pepper.
Mix egg whites and salt in a large bowl. The consistency should be that of wet sand, add more egg or salt as needed.
Using your hands cover the entire fish with a nice thick layer of salt/egg mixture.

My trusty sous chef Gustaf adding herbs

Bake the fish for 20 minutes, then let it rest for another ten. Gently crack open by hitting it with a spoon and discard the salt crust.  You can either transfer the entire fish herbs and all on to a serving plate or fillet out to individual plates.

With this we had asparagus. It is the season for it now so we have been eating a lot of it, and living the consequences (in my house it's called asparapee)

 ....and the salsa verde mentioned on Epicurious. 

I did skip the olives and capers as my youngest is not overly fond of either. It was a crisp, fresh foil to the delicate fish. When we were done, two adults and three teens had picked every bone clean. There was even arguing at the table as to whom would get the last bite of fish. Happiness.