This Madrid-style fish recipe follows a formula from the Royal Academy of Gastronomy, which was traditionally prepared with sea bream, but it is nothing more or less than a fish roasted in the oven on a bed of potatoes, with a little lemon and oil as seasoning. It is customary to give a crunchy touch by covering the fish with breading.
A simple and tasty preparation that focuses on good raw materials for its result, as it should be when it comes to fish dishes. Since sea bream is usually not within everyone’s reach, and even less so when the Christmas holidays are approaching – when it can be a perfect second course -, we adapt it to any other delicious fish you find on the market.
There is evidence of the winter consumption of sea bream in the capital, which lasted until Lent, preserving the fish covered in snow, as early as the 18th century, always by the wealthy classes, obviously. Ismael Díaz Yubero said in his book Gastronomy of Madrid that “Madrid’s love for sea bream is curious (…). It arrived in winter on the back of mules that traveled in trains from the Cantabrian coast. They came in a very orderly manner, with an organization established by the muleteers, who covered the journey in such a short time that the saying “the sea bream kills a mule” became popular.
“Despite everything, the fish could not arrive in ideal conditions, which according to the chefs was resolved by inserting some lemon slices into the loins of the fish, which masked the flavor and which are still used today, mistakenly, to roast sea bream Madrid-style.” Well, we will be wrong to season our fish with the famous lemon wedges, let’s carry on like this.
Difficulty: Finding a good piece of fish that you don’t have to pawn the family jewels for
Ingredients
For 4 people
- 1 onion
- 3 large potatoes
- 1 nice fish (bream, sea bass) of at least 1.2-1.5 kilos whole
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 250 ml of white wine
- 100 g of breadcrumbs
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 100 g of olive oil
- 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
Instructions
Peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices. Do the same with the onion.
Grease the bottom of a baking tray with plenty of olive oil and place the potatoes and onion. Salt to taste, cover with aluminum foil and cook in an oven heated to 190°C for at least 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
In the meantime, mix the breadcrumbs with the peeled and crushed garlic and the chopped parsley.
Gut the fish, leaving it whole, with the head. Make three cuts in the loin and insert a lemon wedge into each.
When the vegetables are done, remove the foil, place the fish on the bed of roast potatoes and onion, season with salt and white pepper and sprinkle with the seasoned breadcrumb mixture.
Pour the white wine and remaining olive oil around the fish, return the dish to the oven and cook the fish in the lower part of the oven at 190°C – with heat up and down – 20 minutes for the first kilogram, adding 10 minutes for each additional kilogram, depending on the total weight of the piece of fish (the sea bass in the photo took 30 minutes).
Once the prescribed time has passed, remove from the oven and immediately serve the fish with a side dish of potatoes and onion.
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