Swap the traditional roasted chicken with this lovely Mediterranean oven-baked gilt-head bream. Easy and quick to prepare, this dish is a humble yet flavourful lunch idea. A whole roasted fish served with simple oven-roasted potatoes and a herby salsa makes for a healthy meal that you’ll fall in love with.
I love preparing fish. It’s easy, quick, and you need only one baking pan. Perfect! This time I decided on gilt-head bream. What a long name. Probably, you know this fish better under the name Dorade, Dorada, Orata, or Orada.
Gilt-head bream is a sea fish, which is very often used in Mediterranean cooking. I’ve read it’s the best-tasting fish from the bream family. I really can’t be the judge of that. However, I can tell you that orada, salmon, and trout are the top three of my fish list.
In addition, check out these fish recipes: bacon-wrapped trout, light and healthy grilled salmon with avocado mayo, a wonderful sweet potato mango crevettes, gorgeous salmon in tomato fennel sauce, a lovely spiced white tiger prawn salad, an amazing pesto salmon with pumpkin, or the smoked mackerel spinach salad.
Furthermore, when buying a fish, never buy a frozen fish. Go for a fresh fish, check for clear eyes, pink gills, and a fresh fish smell. A sea fish should smell like the sea. Wink. Also, check for fish, which is already cleaned and ready for baking.
Oven-baked sweet potatoes
Back at home, I always loved a simple fish dish. Not only at home, but also at the restaurants, fish was always the hero of the plate. Therefore, as the side dish, I only made some classic, simple sweet potatoes. However, you might pair it with wilted spinach. Most of the time, slightly buttered boiled potatoes are served with fish. But I wanted baked potatoes.
Oven-baked potatoes are heavenly good, easy, and quick to prepare. Additionally, I always leave the peel on to get lovely crispy potatoes and that great rustic look. Imagine potato cubes crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Delicious!
A quick tip: to remove the fishbone quickly like a professional, make a simple cut on top along the backbone. Make the small cut before baking.
Ingredients for one oven-baked gilt-head bream:
- 1 gilt-head bream (ca 400 g)
- 2 small sweet potatoes
- olive oil
- salt
- chili flakes (optional)
- 1/2 lemon
- 10 g fresh coriander
- 7 g fresh parsley
- 1 garlic clove
Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Then, clean and wash the gilt-heat bream under cold running water. Before seasoning, dry it with some paper towels. Moreover, using a sharp knife, make two parallel cuts on both sides of the fish and season it with two pinches of sea salt.
Furthermore, wash the potatoes and cut them into 3 cm cubes or wedges. Cover the baking sheet with parchment paper. Then, place the sea bream on it and add the potatoes all around it. Also, you can use two smaller baking sheets and bake the potatoes separately.
Drizzle the fish and potatoes with olive oil, sprinkle with some additional salt and chili flakes, and put them to bake for 30 minutes. At half-time, carefully flip the fish to get the crispiness on both sides.
Meanwhile, prepare the green herby salsa. In a blender, mix coriander, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, and sea salt.
When you can easily pull the small back fin bones out, turn on the grill function for the last two minutes. As a result, you’ll get lovely crispy skin. Yummy.
Serve the oven-baked gilt-head bream with lovely baked potatoes and a generous spoon of herby salsa. Finally, carefully remove the whole bone from the fish, squeeze some lemon juice over it, and dig into this great seafood dish.
Enjoy!
