Grilled branzino

Cooking fish is more about technique than recipes and technique is a question of practice. I practice cooking fish mostly when Andrea has something in the evening, because there's many types of fish she doesn't like -- for instance, whole fish.

To help with technique for a grilled whole branzino, I used a new cookbook, The River Cottage Fish Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Nick Fisher (can you believe it -- he is the fish expert). In their chapter on "Open fire cooking," they have, among other things, the five golden rules of grilling fish -- which basically boil down to "be patient, but don't cook it too long." They are: light the fire well in advance (I have to learn to let the fire sit for a while); preheat the bars of the grill (standard advice for all grilling but particularly important with fish); oil the fish, "not the grill" in italics; don't try to move the fish too soon; be firm and decisive when turning the fish. They discuss various possibilities for grilling -- like putting a bed of bay leaves on the grill or wrapping the fish in wet newspaper (!) that I may eventually try.

I got the branzino at A&H Gourmet, where they had an ice-filled basin with beautiful dorade and branzino. I got the latter because it seemed smaller and more appropriate for one person, but given have big the head and bones were it was actually a bit skimpy and next time I will try the dorade. They cleaned and scaled the fish for me. I rinsed it and patted it dry, squeezed some lemon juice inside and out, sprinkled some sea salt all over, inserted a couple of bay leaves in the inside, and threw some old rosemary on the fire before grilling. I grilled it four minutes on each side, which may have just a tad too long. However, it may be the best branzino I've ever had -- fresh, flaky, delicate in flavor, salty (amazing how well sea salt pairs with fish), just scrumptious. It is a fish you have to chew thoroughly because some bones will make it to your mouth. (Wikipedia informs me that branzino is the northern Italian name for European seabass, known as loup de mer in France; dorade is gilt-head sea bream.)

I accompanied with a kale salad from A&H's new, expanded prepared foods counter and a white Bordeaux that was open. Can't wait to practice more technique!