One Pan Whole Baked Snapper
I’ll be the first to admit that cooking fish can be a little scary, especially a whole one. But fear no more! The beauty of this dish is that it takes about 15 minutes to prepare the sauce, using one pan, and the rest of the magic happens in the oven while you put your feet up and pour yourself a vino. Even if you happen to leave it in the oven for a little too long, it still stays nice and moist due to the sauce and steaming. It’s delicious served with white rice or farro. Now, a note on the capers. If you want to stick to the one pan rule then begin the recipe now and leave the capers in the sauce. But if you’re willing to bend the rules a little by using an extra pan (but it’s only a small one!), then you can make this dish next level by topping it with crispy fried capers. You’re choice, but I know what I’d do!
INGREDIENTS:
1 Tbs ghee or oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 medium onion, diced
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/4 cup olives, pitted and roughly chopped
2 Tbs capers, drained and rinsed*
1 cup dry white wine
1 x 600g whole snapper, cleaned and gutted
1 lemon, including 1 teaspoon zest
small handful parsley, to garnish
small handful dill, to garnish
sea salt and freshly ground black, to taste
METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Heat the ghee or oil on medium heat in a large ovenproof fry pan or skillet. Saute the garlic, onion and fennel for about 10 minutes until soft. Stir in the tomatoes, olives and capers (if you’re not frying them) season with salt and pepper, and cook for about 2 minutes until the tomatoes start to fall apart and create a sauce. Pour in the white wine and cook the mixture for another couple of minutes until the wine reduces and smells divine.
Meanwhile, zest the lemon, cut it in half, and slice one of the halves into semi-circles, reserving the others for later.
Score the fish 3-4 times diagonally on both sides, making incisions large enough to stuff with a slice of lemon, on just one side.
Remove the pan from the heat and place the fish on top of the sauce, spooning some of the mixture over the fish and cavities. If the fish is too big for the pan, cut the tail or head and put it back in the pan. Don’t throw it away! Cover the pan with foil and place it in the oven to cook for about 15-20 minutes. If you’re cooking a larger snapper (say 1kg), it will take around 25-30 minutes. When it’s ready, carefully remove the pan from the oven with a glove, discard the foil and squeeze the reserved lemon over the fish. Garnish with torn dill and parsley, lemon zest, and season with sea salt and pepper.
Notes:
To make crunchy capers, omit the capers from the sauce then, while the fish is baking, toss the capers in 1 tablespoon of arrowroot or flour and fry in a small frying pan in 1 teaspoon of ghee or oil over medium heat until crisp and golden brown. Scatter over the fish when ready to serve.