For the love of flavor-packed and natural spices this fish features a crispy delicious skin with fragrantly spiced fillets! Served with a fresh herb, spice, butter and white wine (optional) induced sauce, this fish is gorgeous, light and flaky with unbelievable flavors!
This oven baked fish is one of the many recipes that we've been enjoying in line with our Free Fish Spice Launch. It's so easy to prepare and if you're concerned about how to clean it don't be because your fish monger at the counter will happily do it for you.
Fish Preparation
I never have to ask it's automatically a consideration for them to clean it and they love to do it. In this Oven Baked Fish recipe I spoke about the husband who actually goes to catch fish and his wife who cleans and sells the fish is called a 'fish monger' 🙂 On the day of buying this fish the man behind the counter was an absolute gem❤️️ He told me how to prepare the fish and then went on about how important the spices were and I couldn't help but smile, I loved him instantly. The lady who worked with him, was focused on cleaning the fish and I rather enjoyed watching her as she did it. It was a good day with beautiful fish potential.
How To Eat Whole Fish
Although you can eat fish the way you want it's good be aware of the type of fish to determine how much bones you have to sort through. Personally I like to lift the fish from the top to give me a good start and work my way through. This fish is called the Tilapia fish and has more bones to work through than say hake.
Personally I would say the idea is to enjoy eating it so take it slow, work through the bones and most of all taste and enjoy!
Fresh Fish Buy
Just a few things to look for when buying fresh fish because if it's the first time you're buying fish it can be daunting. I was very fortunate to grow up with a Dad who loved fishing and he had the longest possible rod too! I learnt a lot about the sea, the waters, crayfish, fish, how to cook it, braai it, clean it and most of all the appreciation of it all from him❤️️
Never be afraid to ask the lady/man behind the fish counter for help and as many questions as possible, trust me they're usually very helpful. If not, then you should buy your fresh fish from someone who is willing to help you.
- Have a quick look at the eye's of the fish, they should be nice and bright and plump
- The flesh is bright color and scaly
- They will scale it for you, clean the guts out and rinse it properly for you before packing it up
- That's it! And while they do that you can look an learn or chat and ask questions - normally this is when I go and get the white wine because the two are the perfect combination. And I need it for the sauce.
Ingredient Preparation
Now you have the fish what now? I'm going to take you through the steps on how I prepared my fish because when we buy it fresh, we want to eat it fresh, right?
If you buy it and life happens as it always does and you can't make it the same day? Leave it in the fridge and take it out about an hour before you're ready to use it the next day. Any longer, then freeze it and use the same method above - about an hour to thaw.
Rinse the fish - Even though I'm there watching the fish monger rinsing my fish with a powerful hose system while the scrape the scales away I still rinse it again when I get home.
Dry the fish - Use kitchen paper or clean kitchen towels to dab the fish dry
Fish Seasoning - Sprinkle the spice all over the fish
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Whole Fragrant Fish
Salt & Pepper - If you are using our Smell and Taste Fish Seasoning then omit the salt and pepper. If necessary you can always sprinkle some salt & pepper over when it's cooked but this seasoning is very flavorful and needs nothing more than olive oil and fresh lemon.
Lemon - Sliced for stuffing the inside, wedges for serving and some lemon juice before or after it's cooked. If you add the lemon juice before it's served pour it in on the side of the fish not over the fish, giving the spice time to cook into the fish.
Oil - Any oil with a high smoke point because we're oven baking on 220/230°C so we need an oil that will complement this heat.
Garlic - If you prefer minced then mince the garlic. I also like finely chopped garlic in this recipe.
Score - Cut slits that are too deep across the fish (or you can get this done when you buy it). It's not difficult to do, start small and slow and make it bigger if necessary.
Stuff the cavity - There are many options with what you can stuff the cavity with so go with your personal favorites. Here I kept it simple lemon and very little garlic (make sure it's all the way inside or it will burn) to not take away from the spice flavor and the sauce.
More Fish Recipes
How To Cook Whole Fish
Generally for this size fish you're looking at 20 minutes however because I nearly drowned the fish in spice I had to go 15 to 18 minutes or the spices really start burning. Get the oven nice and hot on 210 degrees Celsius, rack in the middle bake, that's it!
I love fish with lemon as much as I love fish with white wine but in this recipe I baked the fish on baking paper and nothing else. Again the sauce is where the wine went it! When making this recipe I poured the wine into the oven tray before it baked.
Servings Suggestions
Depends how hungry you are because this is filling and flavorful on it's own however, putting together a light salad is no fuss all! Fish and chilled white wine is my personal favorite but take a look at these serving options for inspiration:
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Whole Flavor Packed and Fragrant Fish
Ingredients
- 1.4 kg 2 Whole fresh fish. Tilapia or any other whole fish the total weigh of both fish is 1.4kg
- ½ teaspoon salt and pepper mix
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
Stuffing
- 1 whole lemon sliced
- 4 to 5 garlic cloves sliced
- 1 or 2 fresh rosemary stalks
Sauce
- 1 tbsp. butter
- 1 tbsp. butter unsalted
- 1 tbsp. fish seasoning
- ½ of a fresh lemon juice and zest
- fresh herbs - dill tarragon or fresh fennel sprigs
- ¼ cup white wine dash or you can use a fish stock if you don't drink wine or water if you're using fish seasoning.
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 210 °C and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
- Always rinse the fish before cooking even though it was washed by the fish monger. Give it a rinse and gently dab it dry using clean kitchen towels. Place the fish on the tray lined with paper. Dab it dry one more time for extra measure.
- Use a sharp knife to score two or three lines or slits into the top of the fish in the skin. No need to over cut in depth and length, just enough to slide the lemon slices into them. Cut the lemon slices in half so they fit nice and snug.
- When you season the fish in the next step this includes the cavity of this fish. Season, a little spice and rub the olive oil inside and then fill the cavity with the lemon slices and a rosemary stalk each.
- Season the fish with the salt and pepper mix. Generously sprinkle the fish seasoning making sure to coat the fish. Drizzle olive oil over and gently rub or dab it into the spices. If you need to sprinkle a little more spice over do that and then bake. Don't over think it 🙂
- Bake for about 20 minutes and if you want the skin on top to crisp up, change the heat to grill and drop the rack down one level so it doesn't grill too fast. Watch it carefully when it's on grill, 5 minutes will be enough. How to tell the fish is ready? Use a fork, gently place it on the flesh of the fish where you made slits. Push the fork down to the spine, if the fish flakes and is tender it's ready. Or you can use a kitchen thermometer where the internal temperature will be around 54/55 °C.Remove the fish the from oven set it aside.
Sauce
- Add all the fish sauce ingredients into a pan starting with the butter and oil. Add the fish seasoning, garlic, fresh lemon juice, zest, white wine and bring to a simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Taste and adjust accordingly and serve over the fish or on the side with fresh salad or greens.
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