Salt Baked Sea Bass is a perfect recipe for a very healthy and, above all, delicious lunch or dinner. When we cook the fish in salt, it is cooked in its own juice, making it very tasty and tender inside. But they are also very healthy recipes, as they do not contain any fat. And, as if that were not enough, they are also very easy to prepare. It won’t take us more than a few minutes to prepare it, because the oven takes care of the rest. If you like to eat well, and with the minimum effort, this salt sea bass is definitely for you. Don’t miss the recipe!
Cooking in salt consists of covering the fish with a generous layer of coarse salt. With this method, the fish will cook in its own juices, making it very tasty and tender. But it is also a very healthy recipe, as we have already mentioned. We can prepare in this way a multitude of fish, the most common being sea bass and sea bream, although we can also prepare a wonderful Tuna a la Sal.
This way of cooking is very old. And, although it is not known with certainty, it is believed that its origin is in the coastal areas, where salt pans abounded, on the Mediterranean coast.
But we also find very similar recipes in Asian cuisine, where they also cooked fish in salt, and even poultry meat.
How to make Salt Baked Sea Bass
This recipe for Salt Baked Sea Bass is very simple. With very few ingredients we will have ready a great and healthy meal. We only need our sea bass, coarse salt and a little bit of water. Although, as you will see in the recipe, we can also add some other ingredients to add more flavor to our dish.
Let’s start with the sea bass. For two people, one sea bass will be enough if it is large enough. If not, we will take two sea bass portions. We will ask the fishmonger to clean them for salt cooking. When we ask him to do so, he will not cut the fish. He will simply make some minimal cuts in order to gut it. He will also remove some scales.
Once we have the fish clean, we will only have to put it in a dish suitable for the oven, on a bed of salt (that we can mix with some spice) and cover it well with salt. We will sprinkle a little water with our fingers to make the salt a little bit thicker. We are also going to help us with our hands to lightly press the salt against the sea bass. Now that we have everything ready, all that remains is to bake.
Let’s see the recipe step by step.
Baked Salt Sea Bass Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Sea bass Ask the fishmonger to clean them for salting, so as to remove the guts and scales but without cutting the fish too much
- 2 Kg coarse salt
- 1/2 glass Water
- 1 Lemon
- Spices to taste
Instructions
- Start by turning on the oven to preheat it to 200ºC.Put in a bowl the salt you are going to use, and add the juice of a lemon and a handful of aromatic herbs.
- In an ovenproof dish, put part of the salt, enough to cover the bottom. Place the sea bass on top and finish covering with salt. Leave the head uncovered to check if it is ready.
- Splash a little water over the salt, with your hands, to slightly hydrate it and press the salt with your hands. Now all that remains is to bake.
- Bake at 200ºC between 30 and 35 minutes, although it will depend on each oven and the size of the sea bass. Therefore, a good way to know if they are ready is to look at the eye. If it is completely white, the sea bass are ready.
- Remove them from the tray and remove the layer of salt, which will have hardened. Serve the sea bass.
A few tips
The baking time of the sea bass in salt will depend on the size of the sea bass. If it is large enough for two people, it will take about 35-40 minutes. If it is a little smaller, it will be ready in less time.
A good trick to know if the sea bass is ready (and that we can follow with any other baked fish, as long as it is whole), is to check the eye. That is why, when we cover the sea bass with salt, we will leave the head of the fish uncovered, so that the eye is in sight.
This way, we will be able to check in a very simple way if it is ready. When we see that the eye has turned completely white, we can remove it from the honor.
We can also check that it is ready when we see that the salt hardens. But this is a little more difficult to see, at least, without touching it. And it is much better not to open the oven until it is ready, so that the temperature remains constant and it cooks better.
How to flavor the salt of our Sea Bass
This recipe is great simply using coarse salt. We don’t need any other ingredient (except a little water to make it more crumbly). But we can also flavor it with different spices to give it a different touch. We can add spices of all kinds, which we will mix with the salt before covering the sea bass.
In the same way, we can add lemon or orange juice (or any other citrus fruit), or even its zest. In this way, our salt sea bass recipe will have a different touch and a delicious flavor depending on the spices we have chosen.
Garnishes and Accompaniments: Complete your menu
To achieve a very complete dish and, taking advantage of the fact that we are going to put the oven to cook the sea bass, a delicious garnish is to put (in another tray) some potatoes cut in slices. We water them with a drizzle of oil, season with salt and pepper and bake until tender. They look great with the sea bass in salt.
But, like any fish, we can accompany it with many other things. Potatoes are always a hit, in any form, mashed, fried, boiled, baked… We can also accompany our baked salt sea bass with all kinds of vegetables, salads, or serve a cream as a starter.
It is a very versatile dish that combines perfectly with many other recipes.
And, with this we end our delicious Baked Salt Sea Bass recipe. But, before you go, don’t miss these other great recipes with fish, like frecipe or Smoked Salmon and Cheese Crepes Recipe. You will love them!
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