I ventured down to the Fish Markets on the weekend and could not go past these fantastic looking whole snapper.
Cooking them in a paper bag helps the fish retain moisture and locks in all the flavours. The Italians often bake fish like this in a wood fired oven which is absolutely sublime but the home brew version comes out pretty good as well :)
Serves 2, but feel free to double it up.
What you’ll need
2 whole Snapper
1 small white onion, peeled, halved and cut into thin strips
1 baby fennel bulb or ½ a big fennel
1 lemon, halved lenghways and sliced into thin strips
3 - 4 sprigs fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
70ml extra virgin olive oil
70ml white wine, whatever you’re drinking
sea salt, pepper
a roll of Baking Paper
How to put it together
1. Preheat your oven to 180C
2. Remove the fennel fronds and finely chop. Core out your fennel bulb and thinly slice.
3. In a large non reactive bowl, combine the fennel fronds, sliced fennel, onion, lemon, rosemary, garlic and olive oil – toss to combine. Don’t worry if this looks like heaps, it will cook down.
4. Take your snapper and give them a quick rinse under the tap, inside and out. Pat down with paper towels.
5. Take a good length of baking paper long enough to comfortably fit your fish on and place a quarter of the mixture in the middle. Place your fish on top and spoon some more of the fennel onion mixture on top – make sure you stuff some down the guts as well.
6. Drizzle with white wine and season well with salt and pepper.
7. Take another length of baking paper, same size and place it over the top. Start in one corner and gradually crimp the paper over to create a nice tight seal all the way around. Carefylly (use a spatula) place on a baking tray.
8. If you can’t get a tight seal, once you have wrapped it in the baking paper you can coven in tin foil.
9. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the fish is nice and tender and just flakes away from the bone.
