This is a great - if somewhat counterintuitive way to cook a whole fish. I got it from Hugh Fearnley Whatsisface, though it is a very old traditional way to cook a fish.  

Ingredients:

1 large (750g to 1kg) line caught wild sea bass

2 garlic cloves

8 bayleaves

500kg rock salt, 500kg fine table salt

1sprig rosemary or lemon thyme

New potatoes

dill, marjoram, black pepper, lime juice.

Place the rock salt into a bowl and add a few table spoons of water, continue to add water until the salt is easy to mold. Then lay a base of salt, slightly larger than the fish in a baking tray, sprinkle black pepper and finely chopped garlic and lay bay leaves and/or lemon thyme on the salt, lay the fish on the salt.  

The next time I make this, I am going to try not using only water to bind the salt, but to use lime and lemon juice in water, to see how this affects the flavour. 

In the cavity of the fish, put a couple more bay leaves, and also a sprig of rosemary.  The thing to note here is that whatever flavours you put in the cavity of the fish will permeate the flesh, so you need to be careful to not overpower the fish, but you can also take advantage of this - you could put a couple of slices of lemon, or garlic, or ginger, but really, the flavour of the fish is good enough to not really augment too much.

You need to tuck the belly of the fish closed, so that the salt doesn't get in and ruin everything. 

Now, dampen some table salt in a bowl with a little more rock salt and mound a complete case of salt around the fish, leaving only the head and tail uncovered.   

Then put it in the preheated oven at 220C or gas mark 7, for 35 minutes. 

As an accompaniment you can boil some new potatoes for 15-17 minutes, and then when they are done, drain the water and add to them some finely chopped dill, marjoram and butter and make a simple salad of torn lettuce leaves and cherry tomatoes,  dressed with olive oil and lime juice .

Serve the fish whole in the salt and then crack the hard salt case, peeling away the skin of the fish with the hard salt  to reveal the white flesh. You can cleave the fillets from the bone - they should slide away with ease.

The salt case gives the fish a smokey flavour of its own, and of course, you shouldn't add any salt to any other aspect of the dish, though I put a couple of drops of soy on the salad.

You can make a variation of the dressing for the fish, as an option, with the dill, marjoram, olive oil and lime juice and pepper ad maybe a few chopped capers, but it is not really necessary as the fish is cooked properly is delicious unaccompanied.

How sustainable is this dish?

Last update : 10-09-2008 08:00

Market - Camden
43 Parkway NW1 7PN

Parkway is a promenade of restaurants, but of them all, this place is a gem, a straightforward, high quality restaurant that serves excellent British food at reasonable prices.
 
Every time I have eaten here the food has been exemplary. As well as a la carte, they offer a two course lunch menu for £10, the last time I ate lunch there I had a salt beef salad, followed by fillet of Pollack with mash and leeks.  The courses are cleverly constructed and expertly prepared, tastes are balanced and merged, and the food cooked, with great skill.  I found myself marvelling at half a boiled egg, hardly the most inspiring of ingredients, but the yolk was buttery and soft, and the white, somehow, tender and creamy too. The Pollack skin was crisp, the fillet delicate, the mash creamy and absolutely faultless.
 
The interior is quite plain and matter of fact, in terms of decor, but there is still a nice enough atmosphere for an evening meal.  There is a good selection of wines, also.

Food: 9
Service: 9
Ambience: 7
Value: 8
Total = 8.25

Last update : 22-08-2008 06:40