Whenever we have fish we conclude that we need to eat more fish. Then a couple of months go by. Then I remember that we haven’t had fresh fish in a long time. Then we conclude that we need to eat more fish.

So the cycle goes.

And we really need to eat more fish.

This sea bass is on the pricier spectrum of the meals we eat. But, to cut it down serve it with a cheap side of boiled potatoes with Swiss chard. Or with a potato salad.

And, you know, what’s life if you won’t treat yourself from time to time, right?

INGREDIENTS:

(Serves 8 / 2.17 EUR per serving / 17.36 EUR for all)

8 sea basses, 250-300 grams each (16.00 EUR)

1 tsp salt (0.01 EUR)

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper (0.07 EUR)

2 lemons (0.67 EUR)

2-3 small rosemary branches (0.13 EUR)

A bunch of fresh parsley, divided (0.13 EUR)

5 tbsp olive oil, divided (0.22 EUR)

3 garlic cloves, crushed (0.13 EUR)

METHOD:

Clean sea bass from scales, remove gills and guts, wash well under cold running water and pat to dry, including the body cavity. You can ask your fishmonger to clean the fish for you, but you’ll definitely want to fix it up as soon as you come home, as they tend to do only rough work with cleaning. Which is totally understandable.

Preheat oven to 250°C. Line baking tray with aluminum foil for easy cleanup and place wire rack on top, so the fish lies slightly lifted from the bottom of the tray while roasting. Make three incisions on each side of every fish, rub salt and pepper all over the fish and stuff each belly cavity with a slice of lemon, small chunk of rosemary branch and a sprig of parsley. Lightly brush each fish on both sides with olive oil and then spread on prepared wire rack. Bake for 15 minutes in the upper third of the oven.

While the fish is baking, finely chop remaining parsley and mix with remaining olive oil and crushed garlic. Serve roasted fish drizzled with freshly squeezed lemon juice and the parsley – olive oil – garlic mix you’ve just prepared.

Svaki puta kada jedemo ribu zaključimo kako trebamo jesti više ribe. Onda prođe par mjeseci. Onda se sjetim da nismo jeli svježu ribu već sto godina. Pa onda zaključimo da trebamo jesti više ribe.

I tako u krug.

I zaista trebamo jesti više ribe.

Ovi brancini su na skupljem djelu spektra hrane koju inače jedemo. Ali, da stvar bude ekonomičnija, možete ih poslužiti sa nekim jeftinim prilogom, kao što je blitva sa krumpirima ili krumpir salata.

Osim toga, što je život ako se s vremena na vrijeme nećete malo počastiti?

SASTOJCI:

(Za 8 osoba / 16,27 kn po osobi / 130,16 kn za sve)

8 brancina, svaki od po 250-300 g (120,00 kn)

1 žličica soli (0,01 kn)

1 žličica svježe mljevenog crnog papra (0,50 kn)

2 limuna (5,00 kn)

2-3 male grančice ružmarina (1,00 kn)

Pregršt svježeg peršina, podijeljen (1,00 kn)

5 žlica maslinovog ulja, podijeljenih (1,65 kn)

3 češnja češnjaka, sitno nasjeckana (1,00 kn)

PRIPREMA:

Očistite brancine od ljusaka, izvadite škrge i utrobe, dobro ih operite pod tekućom hladnom vodom pa ih posušite kuhinjskim ručnicima, uključujući i trbušnu šupljinu. Možete zamoliti da vam ribe očiste u ribarnici, ali ćete morati to malo popraviti čim dođete doma jer će vam u ribarnici ribe očistiti samo na grubo. Što je i razumljivo.

Zagrijte pećnicu na 250°C. Obložite pleh za pečenje aluminijskom folijom za lakše čišćenje, pa na njega stavite rešetku za pečenje kako bi riba prilikom pečenja bila malo odignuta od pleha. Napravite po tri reza sa svake strane ribe, utrljajte u ribe sol i papar, a u trbušnu šupljinu stavite krišku limuna, komadić grančice ružmarina i po grančicu peršina. Kistom namočenim u maslinovo ulje lagano premažite svaku ribu sa obje strane, pa ribe složite po pripremljenoj rešetki za pečenje. Pecite ribe 15 minuta u gornjoj trećini pećnice.

Dok se ribe peku, sitno nasjeckajte preostali peršin i pomiješajte sa ostatkom maslinovog ulja i sjeckanim češnjakom. Pečene ribe poslužite pokapane svježe iscijeđenim sokom od limuna i sa mješavinom peršina, maslinovog ulja i češnjaka koju ste pripremili.