il pesce al forno, versione truccata
When we are on television here in Italy we are always criticised for the same dishes, year after year. You can predict it. We use the ‘wrong’ tomato to make our annual tomato sauce- matter of opinion, and no we don’t- we add too much parsley to garnish- we probably do- and we overly-adorn our fish- which really depends on who is going to eat it. If I’m cooking for family and friends we don’t add anything, not even salt. Lemon, either. Fish in Italy, is mostly unseasoned, unfused with. Its subtly is preferred. But that is harder to sell as a concept to our students, so we often cook dishes like this one, knowing full well that you can’t please everyone. Especially when there are cameras involved.
Ingredients
Olive oil Whole fennel bulbs, fronds included if possible. Whole, cleaned fish, one per person, as close to the same size as possible (classically, this is sea bream or sea bass, keeping in mind that fish names are reused without any sort of fidelity. Salt Black olives
Directions
Preheat the oven, as hot as it goes (fireplace bricks at the bottom or even a pizza stone will help it stay hot)
Drizzle a little olive oil into a bake-proof oven dish and slice the fennel into thin rounds and place in the bottom of the baking dish. Fill fish cavities with fennel fronds and a little salt, and place fish on top, overlapping all of them the same way, so that they cook evenly. Toss in the olives, maybe 5 or 10 per fish.
Bake for ten minutes and then very delicately flip the fish, depending on the size and bake five minutes more.
Take a metal skewer or a knife (if you are very careful) and insert it into the thickest part of the biggest fish and count to three. Remove and touch the metal against your wrist or lip (both are very sensitive). If it’s hot, remove it. If not, bake for another minute or so and then check it again.
Douse everything with a good, healthy dose of raw oil. Delicately scoop through the fennel to lift the fish, placing fish and contorno onto individual serving plates.
To eat, run the point of your knife across the middle of the fish (there will be a line, follow it) and up around the gill. Using the side of your knife, pry up the top fillet, and down the bottom fillet. (This takes 3 seconds). Grab a hold of the tale and left towards the head, removing head, tail and the entire skeleton (which takes maybe 3 seconds more). Discard (empty bowls on the table facilitate easy service of the inedible parts). Your fish is now mostly bone-free.
This works for all whole, roasted round fish.
Wine: Match oiliness and intensity of fish flesh to the wine, the darker and richer, the more colour you want in the wine. A Champagne-method rosato would be my dream marriage.
