Father’s day al sale

With Father’s day round the corner I thought of proposing this straightforward fish recipe. The salt crust gives a sophisticated appearance to this dish however to prepare it is neither time consuming nor complicated. And don’t worry about the heavy amount of salt required this will not make the fish super salty! But don’t forget to ask your fishmonger to leave the fish with the scales on. You can choose sea bass or meagre but other varieties will do. If you trust your fishmonger advise him of your cooking intentions.

Fish baked in sea salt

Photo by David Caruana

Serves 4

• 1.5/2 kg fish, cleaned but with scales on
• 4 kg sea salt
• 3 egg whites
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• Extra virgin olive oil

Beat the egg whites until fluffy. Add the sea salt to the egg whites and mix well. Sprinkle the salt with some cold water, to make it damp. Take a large ovenproof dish, place a layer of salt at the bottom. In the meantime, drizzle the fish with olive oil from both sides and place on the bed of salt.

Take the sprigs of rosemary and thyme and place them in the fish’s cavity. Cover the fish with the remaining salt, making sure that there are no uncovered gaps. You can leave head and tail uncovered.

Cook in a preheated oven of 200?C for 40 minutes. Remove fish from oven, break the salt crust with a knife. Scrape off any excessive salt from the fish, and serve with lemon wedges and good quality olive oil.