Adriatic-style baked sea bass with lemon, parsley and capers

Serves - 4

You’ll need

• 2 whole sea bass, around 500–600g each, scaled, gutted and cleaned
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp capers, drained
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 100ml dry white wine
• 100g cherry tomatoes, halved
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Get the fish ready

Heat the oven to 200°C fan. Pat the sea bass dry with kitchen paper, then make 2 or 3 shallow slashes through the skin on each side.

Season the fish inside and out with salt and black pepper. Slice half the lemon into thin rounds and tuck a few into each cavity along with a little parsley and some of the sliced garlic. Nothing too elaborate – the fish is quite capable of doing most of the work itself.

2. Build the baking dish

Drizzle 1 tbsp of the olive oil over the base of a large roasting dish. Sit the sea bass on top, then scatter the cherry tomatoes, remaining garlic and half the capers around the fish.

Pour the white wine around, rather than directly over, the fish and drizzle everything with the remaining olive oil.

3. Bake the sea bass

Transfer to the oven and bake for 20–25 minutes, depending on the size of the fish, until the flesh is opaque and flakes easily away from the backbone.

The skin should be lightly golden and the juices in the roasting dish should have mingled with the wine, tomatoes and olive oil into something considerably better than the effort involved would suggest.

4. Make the lemon and parsley finish

Finely grate the zest from the remaining half of the lemon, then squeeze its juice into a small bowl.

Add the remaining capers, most of the parsley and a spoonful or two of the warm roasting juices. Stir together and taste, adding a little black pepper if needed.

5. Finish the fish

Spoon the lemon, parsley and caper mixture over the hot sea bass as soon as it comes from the oven.

Leave the fish to rest for 2–3 minutes. Not because it needs the sort of lengthy resting ceremony reserved for a large roast, but because it gives all those sharp, salty juices a chance to settle into the flesh.

6. Serve

Transfer the sea bass to a serving platter or fillet it at the table, spooning over plenty of the tomatoes and roasting juices.

Finish with the remaining parsley and serve with simple boiled potatoes, roasted new potatoes or a crisp green salad. A bit of good bread for chasing the lemony, caper-filled juices around the plate would also be a sensible decision.

A couple of helpful notes
- Ask your fishmonger to scale and gut the sea bass for you – it makes preparation considerably quicker.
- Sea bass is ready when the flesh has turned opaque and comes away easily from the backbone. Avoid giving it an extra ten minutes for reassurance, as overcooked fish loses its charm rather quickly.
- Capers vary considerably in saltiness, so taste before adding any extra salt at the end.