Maybe I’ve just been playing too much Animal Crossing, but I’ve had a hankering for a baked sea bass and finally got around to buying a couple. These baked Mediterranean sea bass’ are so good, and only need a simple dressing up. If you saw my recipe for Mediterranean baked Sea Bream (dorado)then this is a pretty similar recipe, and equally as delicious.
I do want to specify that there is a difference between real sea bass and Chilean sea bass. The latter is technically not sea bass (it is Patagonian Toothfish) and is not what you should be looking for if you want to bake a whole fish. I mean, it’s super ugly to start with. That being said, they taste fine so if you are buying pre-packaged fillets then you could go with that.
How To Choose A Good Sea Bass
There are two main things I look at when buying fish. The color of the eyes, and the color of the gills. You want to choose a fish where the eyes do not have any white film or cloudiness covering them. As for the gills, you want them to be dark red. Gray or faded pink gills are a sign that the fish is old, since there is barely any oxygen left.
Just like with an orata al forno I don’t do anything too fancy with this fish. Just rub the skin with an olive oil, salt, lemon juice mixture and you’re good to go. Of course, aim for good olive oil, flaky sea salt, and freshly squeezed lemon juice. If you are looking for a fancier sea bass recipe then my pan seared sea bass with pisto is definitely has a great appearance for dinner parties.
I prepare this fish in a standard Mediterranean way, atop a bed of mixed and sliced fresh vegetables. You can choose whatever you prefer, in this case I used bell peppers, snap peas, onion, and cherry tomatoes. Everything is just tossed in a bit of the same seasoning I used for the fish, along with a drizzle of balsamic glassa and a sprinkling of oregano.
When preparing the sea bass (after it is scaled and gutted) I make three fine incisions to the skin in an angled vertical pattern. This helps the meat cook more evenly, as well as cutting apart after cooking. Just put half a lemon slice into the cut for presentation.
The fish is baked at 160 Celsius for 30 minutes, and then pulled out and let to rest for just a minute or two before serving. When I am serving this at a dinner party I do one baked Mediterranean sea bass per guest since you end up with around 250 grams of meat, which is the perfect portion.
Baked Mediterranean Sea Bass
Equipment
- Baking Tray
Ingredients
- 2 whole Sea Bass scaled and gutted
- 1 Lemon
- 100 grams Snap Peas
- 100 grams Cherry Tomatoes
- 1 Bell Pepper sliced
- 1 tbsp Balsamic Glassa
- 3 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tbsp Sea Salt
- 1 tbsp Oregano dried or fresh
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 160 Celsius
- Make 3-4 vertical incisions on the sea bass' skin but don't cut all the way through to the bone. Rub the fish with a mixture of 1 tbsp olive oil, lemon juice (from 1/2 the lemon), a pinch of the sea salt, and a pinch of the oregano.
- Toss the vegetables with the remainder of the ingredients and lay them down over the bottom of the baking tray. Place the fish on top. Take the other half of lemon and cut it into slices. Halve the slices and place the halved slices into the incisions on one side of the sea bass.
- Place the tray in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Serve one whole fish per person along with a scoop of the mixed roasted vegetables.
Notes
do we add the balsamic glaze before cooking or after?
I toss the vegetables with the glaze and then lay them down underneath the fish before baking 🙂