Oven-Baked Whole Fish with Gremolata & White Wine

This fantastic recipe works especially well if you can get really fresh deep-sea fish.

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 medium carrots, finely diced
  • 6 sticks celery, finely diced
  • 4 tablespoons lemon zest, finely grated
  • 2 large cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 cup parsley, finely chopped
  • 4 x 300 g snapper or bream, scaled and gutted
  • 1 teaspoon salt, optional
  • 1½ cups dry white wine

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 250°C (480°F).
  2. Heat the oil in a large, deep oven dish, big enough to fit the four fish side by side. Sauté the carrots and celery for about 10 minutes, until soft. Set aside.
  3. To make the gremolata, mix together the lemon zest, garlic and parsley.
  4. Cut criss-cross slits, 3 cm apart, on both sides of each fish.
  5. Rub the fish with salt and stuff the slits with the gremolata.
  6. Place the stuffed fish on top of the vegetables in the oven dish and pour over the white wine.
  7. Bake for about 30 minutes, occasionally basting the fish with its juices. Serve with steamed brown rice.

Serves 4

Per serve: calories 442; fat 14 g (29 per cent of calories from fat); saturated fat 2 g; carbohydrate 19 g; fibre 6 g; cholesterol 74 mg; calcium 164 mg.