Mediterranean Baked Sea Bream (Gilt Head Bream, Dorada, Orata)

Name: Mediterranean Baked Sea Bream
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2 people
Ingredients: 1 whole Gilt Head Sea Bream (aka Orata, Dorada, Dorate etc. Scaled and gutted. Mine was about 450 grams, if yours is more or less you may have to adjust baking time.); 1 Lemon; 5 cloves Garlic (peeled and split); 2 sprigs Rosemary (fresh); 2 tbsp Greek Seasoning Mix (store-bought or make my blend); 2 tbsp Olive Oil (high quality, but no need to use anything gourmet as it's being baked); 1 tsp Flaky Sea Salt; 1 tbsp Oregano (dried); 1 tsp Marjoram (dried); 2 tsp Thyme (dried); 2 tsp Parsley (dried); 1 tsp Onion Powder; 2 tsp Black Pepper (freshly cracked); 1 tsp Fennel Seed (ground); 1 tsp Dill (powder)

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Mediterranean Baked Sea Bream (Gilt Head Bream, Dorada, Orata). Served with roast potatoes, fresh tomatoes, and bean sprouts

One of my absolute favorite fishes of all time is the Gilt Head Sea Bream. It has a variety of names around the world like Dorada in Spanish speaking countries, Orata in Italy, Amber Sea Bream (translated) in Greece, and more. It is a great fish for multiple reasons, but the best way to cook it is to make a simple Mediterranean Baked Sea Bream using the whole fish.

If you’ve never cooked a whole fish before, don’t worry, it’s actually really easy. If you can buy it scaled at gutted at the fishmonger I say do that, but if you can’t, cleaning it is not a problem. Scale the fish as you would any other fish; Hold the tail and use a knife or fish scaler to scrape from tail to head. Then simply rinse off the fish to wash away any dislodged scales. To gut the fish make an incision from below the gills and run it all the way down to right before the anal fins. Then just scoop out the innards and give everything a good rinse.

My favorite way to cook this fish is the Greek way. Or, at least the way I learned how to cook it from my guesthouse host in Agios Giorgios, Corfu. I made a spice mix from dried herbs including Oregano, Onion Powder, Marjoram, Thyme, Salt, Pepper. If you buy a store-bought spice mix it may also have garlic powder, rosemary, and lemon zest in it, but as I’m using fresh rosemary, minced garlic, and lemons I didn’t add that to the spice mix.

Everything you need ingredients for a Mediterranean baked sea bream

To prepare the gilt head sea bream take the seasoning mix and sprinkle it liberally into the guts cavity. Then shove in a fresh sprig or two of rosemary, five cloves of garlic chopped in half, and two lemon wedges to somewhat seal it. Trust me on this, the flavors of this Mediterranean baked sea bream are so delicious.

This is an easy fish recipe because once you have the fish scaled and gutted (which you can sometimes buy already done at a fishmonger) the cooking is fairly straightforward. I lay the fish after stuffing and seasoning both sides of it on a parchment paper lined baking tray. Then I take a sharp knife and cut three slits diagonally across one side of the fish. I put in a half lemon slice into the slits, and then use two thin lemon slice halves to cover the tail. You don’t need to do this, but if you like eating the tail like a chip it prevents it from burning too much.

You can cut the fin off if you want, or you can do it after it is cooked. Then I simply pop it into an oven at 210 Celsius for 25 minutes. Easy as pie and it comes out perfectly every time. The bones are easy to remove as you cut into it, and the meat is juicy and delicious.

Greek sea bream right out of the oven — Just baked

baked sea bream dorada orata with greek seasoning

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