What to eat tonight: Lemony baked whole sea bream

This delicious whole fish dish makes a big statement but is fast, fresh and fuss-free.

This is perfect for feeding a small crowd. The salsa verde is the real beauty of this dish. You can use whatever combination of herbs that you have to hand and you don’t need to be exact about measurements. It’s a classic accompaniment to grilled fish and also works well as a dip for bread. Serves 8.

Whole roasted sea bream with lemon and herbs

Ingredients

• 1 fish per person, gutted and de-scaled. We used whole sea bream but sea bass works too. Make sure you buy your fish as local and as fresh as possible, ask your fishmonger what he’d recommend for baking.
• 1 lemon, sliced
• handful of fresh herbs
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

For the salsa verde

• A handful of each of the following: flat-leaf parsley, chives, chervil, basil or mint
• 1 small clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 heaped tbsp capers, rinsed
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• juice of 1 lemon
• 250ml extra-virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper

Method

1 Preheat oven to 200C/400f/Gas mark 6. Line an oven tray with parchment paper.

2  Lay some lemon slices down in a line and place your fish on top. The slices will help protect the fish from any direct heat. Season fish generously inside and out with salt and pepper.
3  Stuff cavity with the herbs and the remaining slices of lemon. Slash top of fish and drizzle over some olive oil.

4  Cook until the fish is done, and the flesh comes away from the bone easily. A 2kg fish should take approximately 30 minutes. Let the fish rest for five minutes.

5  Serve with a salsa verde on the side and some buttery boiled baby new potatoes.

Recipe Lesley Tumulty