Ever wondered how to roast fish while keeping all its moisture intact? Well, look no further than the salt baked method whereby you bury your fish of choice (mine is the sea bass or dorade) in an egg white x coarse salt mixture with the consistency of wet sand.
Note that any fresh white-fleshed fish will do. I prefer sea bass because it has a higher fat content than snapper. Feel free to stuff the cavity full of herbs and citrus of your choice. Some of you may wonder will the fish turn out overly salty? Short answer is “no”. The salt forms a ‘mini-oven’, acting like an insulation whereby all the juices and aromas from the herbs and lemons are trapped and only lightly seasons the fish.
As a rough measure, you would bake the fish at 8 minutes per pound so that the flesh registers 120-125. As mentioned, feel free to use any type of white fish such as sea bass, brazino, and snapper.
Salt Baked Sea Bass
PREP TIME: 10 min | ACTIVE TIME: 30 min | TOTAL TIME: 40 min | YIELDS: 2-3 servings
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 sea bass ~ 1.25 kg
- 500g of coarse sea salt
- 3 egg whites
- Lemon, sliced
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- bunch of fresh thyme or rosemary
METHOD:
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form with an electronic hand whisk (suggested).
- Fold in the coarse salt into the egg white mixture to form a loose ‘cement’ paste.
- Clean the fish and pat dry. Insert a few slices of lemon, garlic and thyme/rosemary inside the cavity.
- Pour 1/3 of the salt onto the lined baking tray to form a ‘base’ for the fish. Lay the fish on top and cover the rest of the fish with the remaining salt egg white mixture.
- Insert tray into preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove once done and crack the salt crust, remove it from the fish and discard. Peel skin from the fish and place on serving plate. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and/or lemon juice.
