For a dinner party recipe that looks amazing and tastes even better, why not give this impressive fish dish a try? Baking the see bass with slat and lemon thyme really brings out the flavour, serve it up with delicious sides and your guests will be really impressed.
Ingredients
- 1 wild line-caught sea bass, around 1.25kg, gutted but not scaled
- 3 egg whites
- 500-600g coarse rock salt (depending on the size of your fish)
- a bunch of fresh lemon thyme
Method
Double-line a baking tray large enough to fit the fish on with baking parchment or oiled foil.
Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then mix with the salt. Now you want to cover the fish in the salt mix to make an “oven”. Put around a third of the salt mix on the baking tray then put the fish on top. Tuck the thyme in the cavity. Spread the rest of the salt mix over the fish so it’s covered. Messy, but worth it! You can now leave it in the fridge for a few hours until you are ready to bake it.
To cook, heat the oven to 200C, gas 6. A fish of this size will take 30 minutes to cook through – if you want to check, you should be able to insert a metal skewer through the hard crust and straight through the fish.
To serve, break the crust – it will come off in big chunks. Pull off the skin, fillet the top layer of fish, remove the main bone and head, then take the rest of it from the bone.
Top Tip for making Sea Bass Baked in Salt
Serve with aioli, some new potatoes and bought artichokes in oil
