I know—shocking that the foodie-chef that I am let someone order for me (but to be fair, this was before culinary school). Anywho… What ended up coming to the table was a whole fish.
Whole meaning skin on.
Whole meaning bones in.
Whole meaning eyeballs included.
Whole meaning well, whole.
I had never had a whole fish before. My experience had always been scaled, skinned, deboned, and filleted in a neat and tidy little portion… Oh, and the eyeballs had always been removed as well.
You might be curious why I keep mentioning the eyeballs. Well, it’s because after he taught me how to debone the fish, he proceeded to EAT THE EYEBALLS!!! Well, eyeball (singular because of course he left one for me—gag!)
If you know me at all, you know two things about me:
1. I never back down from a challenge, and
2. I am always up to try something new.
So, I ate it…
And then I almost threw up my dinner all over the fancy restaurant table.
Okay, so from this experience I learned a few things. I was not (nor, I assume, will I ever be) an eyeball fan. And the whole fish (as disgusted as I was that it was looking back at me) was SOOO much more flavorful than any silly fillet I’d ever tasted.
It makes sense to me now looking back. Have you ever had a bone in steak, or a whole roasted chicken? Or maybe a soup made with chicken stock instead of water? (Hint: stock is made with bones.)
My point is that when cooking meat or fish, the bones add so much flavor to the dish. Don’t believe me? Try to cook a chicken breast, then cook a whole chicken and remove the breast. You can guess which one will taste better (and if you can’t, I’ll tell you it’s the bone-in version). Same with the whole fish scenario.
So, get over your eyeball aversions everyone. Today we’re making my favorite fish—whole branzino!
Yields: 2 fish
Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
2 whole branzino, scaled and cleaned
1 lemon, sliced
4 sprigs rosemary, reserve 2 for garnish
1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Place 2 lemon slices and 1 rosemary sprig in belly of each fish (reserving the remainder lemon and rosemary for garnish).
3. Place fish on top of a sheet of aluminum foil and wrap, twisting the ends of the foil to resemble a boat (leave a slit at the top of the foil open to allow some of the steam to escape.
4. Bake at 400°X ~15 minutes.
5. Top with rosemary and lemon slices.
The Cook’s 2 Cents:
· Cutting a slit, from the rind to the center of the lemon slices, will enable you to twist them for a nice garnish.
· Fish is done when you can easily pierce the skin with a knife.
· How to debone a fish:
o Using a knife, separate the top fillet by cutting down the middle of the fish from head to tail.
o Cut just above the tail until you hit the spine of the fish.
o Slide the meat off of the spine.
o Slowly pull the tail and spine away from the bottom fillet of the fish.
Nutrition Facts:
Serving Size: 1 fish
Servings Per Recipe: 2
Calories: 255 Fat: 8g Sodium: 321mg Carbs: <1g Fiber: 0g Sugars: 0g Protein: 31g
