Baked Fish in Salsa di Agrumi
I am starting to realize that I shouldn’t call this blog 20 breads of Italy, but the breads of Naples and Sicily. Most of my recipes pop back and forth on the ferry between Naples and Palermo, it may be time to put on a warm coat and make my way north. But for now… a Sicilian inspired fish.
I found these beautiful black bass at the Mount Pleasant fish market on Shem Creek, one of the few places where you can buy whole fish in Charleston. I have never cooked black bass before and had I known that it was such a hearty fish, I wouldn’t have prepared it with this subtle sauce. It was delicious, but called for a more delicate fish.
I got the idea for this fish from a book of Sicilian recipes, citrus trees are one of the main crops that thrive in Sicily and the use of these fruits in savory dishes is deliciously common in Sicily. Fruit and meat go so beautifully together, I paired this fish with yesterday’s collards and a crusty french baguette, but it would be wonderful with steamed rice and a salad.
Baked Fish in Salsa di Agrumi
- 2 medium-sized whole fish, cleaned and scaled (you can use any delicate white fish for this dish)
- zest of 2 lemons, juice from 1 lemon
- juice from 2 oranges, zest from 1 orange
- juice from 1 pink grapefruit
- around 10 cloves of garlic, peeled, left whole
- large bunch of flat parsley, divided, half of the bunch chopped
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- salt to taste
Preheat oven to 350°.
Zest the lemons and orange before juicing them. Once they have been juiced and zested, stir all of it together.
Stuff 2 cloves of garlic in the cavity of each fish along with the a portion of the parsley leaves, add a pinch of salt and drizzle about a tsp of olive oil inside the cavity. Place fish in the middle of roasting pan and drizzle olive oil on top. Pour the citrus juice and zest over the fish, making sure some of the zest sits on top of the fish. Add the remaining garlic cloves to the sauce.
Place in the middle rack of the oven for 40 to 50 minutes. Baste the fish with the juice every 15 minutes and bake until the meat is white and flaky.
Clean the fish on a separate plate and reduce the sauce in the roasting pan over high heat. When the sauce has reduced, remove from the heat and add chopped parsley. Drizzle over the cleaned fish and serve immediately.
Italicious 
Oh my goodness, that looks delicious!