Baked Sea Bream Provençal Style
Easy French sea bream recipe using either the whole fish or fillets. Served Provençal style, roast in one dish with tomatoes, garlic, thyme, lemon for a taste of the Mediterranean.
Ingredients
- 1 whole (1kg/2lb) sea bream cleaned and gutted
- 2 bay leaves
- 500 g (1lb) tomatoes roughly chopped (or can chopped tomatoes, good quality)
- 6 cloves garlic unpeeled, left whole (fresh, not powdered)
- 3 sprigs lemon thyme
- 10 small new potatoes scrubbed clean with skins on
- 1 lemon unwaxed, organic
- 45 ml (3 tbsp) olive oil extra virgin
- ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/425°F/Gas 7. Rinse the fish, pat dry and place in a deep roasting dish on top of the bay leaves.
- Either pour a tin of chopped tomatoes around the fish or use fresh. Plunge ripe tomatoes into a bowl of boiling water for 10-15 seconds then run under cold water. Peel off the skin, halve, remove the seeds and chop roughly.
- Throw over the unpeeled garlic cloves, thyme, potatoes, and top the fish with the lemon, cut into medium slices. Dribble over the olive oil and sprinkle the whole dish with the salt (¼ tsp) and few turns of the peppermill.
- Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes (depending on the size of fish).
Notes
If using a can of tomatoes, pick good quality brands such as Mutti.
Nutritional information per serving: total fat 33%; cholesterol 8%; protein, 32g; fibre 97%, iron 64%, calcium 21%.