Salt-baked silver bream with beetroot salad and salsa

Serves 2 Starters and mains

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Method

For the beetroot and dill salad, boil the beetroots in water salted with 1/2tsp of the pink Himalayan salt until soft, then drain. When cool enough to handle, slip off the skins, then cut the flesh into small cubes and mix with the red onion, dill, vinegar, oil, sugar and remaining salt. Set aside until ready to serve.

To make the salsa salmoriglio, put the oil in a bowl and whisk in the salt, pepper, garlic and lemon juice. Add the parsley and oregano and mix to combine evenly. If making ahead, it can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C F/Gas 4. Rinse the cavity of the fish well and pat dry. Lay the lemon slices along the cavity and add the dill fronds.

Grind the Himalayan salt to get the rough texture of sand and transfer to a bowl. Add the egg whites and stir to combine. Pour enough of the mix into an oven-proof dish to create a 1cm layer of salt roughly the shape of the fish in the bottom. Lay the fish on top and start covering it entirely with the rest of the salt, making sure there are no gaps.

Bake for 25 minutes, then remove and leave to rest for 10 minutes – but no longer.

Carefully lift off the crusty salt, lifting off the skin at the same time. Pull off the fins too, revealing tender flesh to remove from the bony skeleton. Remove the bone to expose the rest of the fish.

Serve with the beetroot salad and salsa salmoriglio.

COOK’S NOTE Leaving the fish scales intact before cooking prevents the salt over-penetrating the flesh and making it over salty.

This recipe featured in the June 2022 issue of Food and Travel. To subscribe, click here.