Spigola con Limone al Forno
This is too easy not to share. The fish itself takes 10 minutes to cook and 2 minutes to prep. It goes well with some roast potatoes and some greens as accompaniment – whatever is in season works. It’s a very light and tasty meal. In Italian seabass is spigola or branzino (slightly different one from the other, but this will get you what you want).
INGREDIENTS
Per person you are looking for around 200g of filleted fish,
500g Seabass
Lemon slices
Flaked seasalt and ground black pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, we like something really mineral but southern for this, such as Nocellara Etnea from Sicily.
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Rinse the fish well and place on a lined baking tray.
Score the skin of the fish with a sharp knife as per in the image above, so roughly an inch apart and then place half moons of lemon in each. Layer some slices of lemon also under the fish.
Season well with flaked seasalt and a little ground black pepper and then drizzle quite generously with extra virgin olive oil.
You can cook immediately when the oven has reached 180C or set aside in the fridge for a few hours if you are preparing ahead. Cooking time is 10 minutes.
For your contorni, crispy roast potatoes are of course wonderful. If you are in the warmer months of the year, roasted cherry tomatoes are also quite delicious with Spigola. And during the colder months, some bietola/chard or wilted spinach works well.
When serving don’t forget to use a further wonderful drizzle of oil.