Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil recipe

Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes

Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio)

One of the easiest and most effective ways to cook fish is to wrap it in foil. All the flavours stay inside the wrap and work their way through the fish! When cooking using this method, use simple ingredients and very fresh fish for best results. You can see similar recipes to this one, selecting “sea bream wrapped in cooking foil 1” and “Sea bream wrapped in cooking foil 2”; both the recipes are featured in the seafood section of the website. For this recipe, I have used a sea bass instead of a sea bream, plus capers, anchovies and lemon with a final garnish of parsley….try it!  
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4
Calories 650 kcal

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Ingredients
 

  • 1 Sea bass of about 500 g (1.1 lb) weight
  • 1 oz capers
  • 4-5 Anchovy fillets
  • 1 Lemon
  • Some extra virgin olive oil 
  • A couple of potatoes
  • Salt and black ground pepper for seasoning
  • A small handful of flat leaf parsley (roughly chopped)

Instructions

  • When buying the fish, ask your fishmonger to gut and scale it, but do not remove head and tail. At home, rinse the fish under fresh water and then pat it dry with kitchen paper.
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
  • Cut a large piece of foil so that you can wrap your fish later. In the centre of the foil put a layer of greaseproof paper, roughly of the same length as your fish. Put some drops of olive oil on the greaseproof paper.
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
  • Spread the olive oil all around the greaseproof paper (use your fingers or a little brush).
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
  • Slice the potatoes (thin slices) and lay the slices as shown in the picture. Then, drizzle some olive oil over the potato slices. The potato helps to absorb part of the liquid that may form in the bottom during the cooking.
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
  • Make three diagonal cuts onto the top side of the fish.
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
  • Brush the inside of the belly with olive oil.
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
  • Stuff the belly with the anchovy fillets. I am not seasoning the inside of the fish belly with salt because the anchovy fillets are already salted. However, feel free to season with black pepper if you wish to do so.
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
  • Put half of the capers inside the gills.
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
  • Put the remaining capers inside the fish belly.
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
  • Next, cut three thin slices from the lemon and put each slice into each of the cuts you previously made.
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
  • Drizzle some olive oil over the fish.
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
  • Season the outside with salt.
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
  • Season the outside with black pepper.
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
  • Close the wrap, seal it folding the sides and put it onto an oven tray. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (400°F). When the oven is hot, put the tray into the oven and cook the fish for about 35 minutes.
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes
  • Once the fish is cooked, drizzle with some good quality olive oil and sprinkle with parsley (the fish may be served on the wrap).
    Sea bass wrapped in cooking foil (Spigola/Branzino al cartoccio) | Seafood recipes

Nutrition

Calories: 650kcal
Keyword Seafood
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Equip your kitchen – Available at Amazon now

Italian Apron
Serving bottles
Cookbook
Published
Categorised as Seafood

By Federico

Federico Pezzaioli is an ex-badass Italian Paratrooper on a mission - to make creating delicious authentic Italian food really easy. He researches, writes and photographs each recipe with the same attention to detail he used to apply to packing his parachute.

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