There is nothing better than grilled/baked whole fish. Snapper has to be my favourite. It brings back memories of my childhood fishing with my grandfather listening to stories of the old days when they would catch boat loads of HUGE snapper, so much that the boat would almost be sinking! And more recently eating char grilled Red Snapper hot off the coals drizzled with sweet and spicey sauce in South East Asia….
Sadly I am not in either of those places today. I was in Brixton, London though and strolling through the markets looking at all the fresh fish (surprisingly fresh) and couldn’t help but pick up a couple of small snappers, their fate bound for my oven!
I always think the best way to eat fish is simply. Our garden is starting to produce some delicious Cherry Tomatoes and I had some potatoes lying around, combine this with a few simple herbs and spices and you have a delicious, simple meal!
And simple it really is, all you need to do is season the fish with salt and pepper, place it on some foil with the ingredients, wrap it up and bake! What you are left with after 45 minutes or so is a flavour full package complete with its own buttery sauce.You could serve with a simple salad or a quick potato side dish to mop up all those juices….. Enjoy!
Whole baked snapper with cherry tomatoes, garlic and rosemary smashed potatoes
Make sure the fish is clean (no scales/fins etc) and lay it on a large sheet of alfoil. Season well on both sides + in the cavity with salt and pepper. Add sliced lemons and thyme sprigs into the cavity. Scatter the tomatoes and thinly sliced garlic over and around the fish. Add a few small slices of butter to the top and then seal up nice and tight. This needs to go into a pre-heated oven at around 185 degrees centigrade for 45 minutes.
While the fish is cooking add the washed potatoes to salted water and add to the hob to boil. Once the potatoes are done (they will be soft and come apart when you poke a fork in) drain he water and put back on the hob with the lid on (this further dries out to spuds and makes a fluffier smash/mash).
While the spuds are drying add some fresh rosemary sprigs to some hot olive oil for a minute or two. Transfer this to the spuds and smash lightly with a fork seasoning to taste – you can add some more butter to this if you like (we do!).
After 45 minutes or so the fish should be done, you can either serve it still in the foil with the smash on the side or you can transfer to a plate, pouring the butter sauce over the top! Make sure to ad a few squeezed of lemon over the fish as well!
Ingredients
3 whole (gutted, scaled) Snappers (or you could use Sea Bream etc )
1 Bulb of Garlic (preferably NOT the bleached white supermarket stuff)
2/3 Lemons
1 small tub / large handfull of Cherry Tomatoes
Waxy Potatoes
Rosemary (fresh)
A few sprigs of fresh Thyme
Salt/Pepper
50 Grams Butter
Olive Oil
Serves 2
Preperation time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 50 Minutes
Utterly scrumptious..so simple..off to buy fish right now !