Bones_ Recipes, History, and Lore - Jennifer McLagan [86]
3 ripe plum tomatoes, cored and diced
6 large basil leaves, shredded
1 garlic clove, crushed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 whole sea bass, about 3 pounds (1.35 kg), cleaned but scales left on
1 sprig each rosemary, basil, and sage
3½ pounds (1.6 kg) kosher salt
1 pound (450 g) fine sea salt
12 large egg whites (1½ cups [375 ml])
1. Begin by making the tomato sauce: mix the tomatoes with the shredded basil and garlic in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, and let marinate at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 4 hours. Remove the garlic before serving.
2. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Remove the fish from the refrigerator. Select a baking sheet, with a lip, large enough to hold the fish with 2 inches (5 cm) space all around. Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil and then with parchment paper. Pat the fish dry and place the herbs in its stomach cavity. In a very large mixing bowl, mix the two salts and egg whites very well, for about 5 minutes; your hand is the best tool for this. The more you mix, the easier the crust will be to cut when it is baked.
3. Put about half of the salt mixture on the prepared baking sheet, spreading it out to create a bed for the fish. Lay the fish on top and cover with the remaining salt mixture, making sure that the fish is entirely buried under a blanket of salt from head to tail.
4. Bake for 35 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the fish registers 130°F (54°C). (If you have a thermometer with a probe, insert it when encasing the fish—or use a metal skewer to make a hole in the crust to insert an instant-read thermometer.) The fish will take about 10 minutes per pound (450 g) to cook. Remove the fish from the oven, break open the crust with a sharp knife, and lift off the pieces of crust to reveal the fish.
5. Remove the skin, any remaining scales, and cut the fish into portions (see page 187). Serve with the tomato sauce.
Grilled Sardines with Gooseberry Sauce
Since green gooseberries are hard to find, I grow them. I love their tartness so much that I am prepared to brave their vicious thorns. The French call green gooseberries groseilles à maquereaux to distinguish them from red and white currants, groseilles, related fruits. The translation is mackerel currants, an odd name if you don’t know that gooseberry sauce was a popular accompaniment for grilled mackerel both in France and England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Proof, if I needed it, that combining fruit with meats and fish was not invented in the 1970s by the Nouvelle Cuisine movement. Gooseberries are rare and exotic in France today, and their link with mackerel remains mainly in name only.
This sauce is simple to make. I top and tail the gooseberries first, which is easily done with a pair of kitchen scissors so that I have a thick sauce. If you skip this step you will have to puree the sauce at the end and then strain it—more work, and you will have a smooth puree rather than a thick sauce. I serve this sauce with sardines, but it is a perfect foil for any rich oily fish, including both mackerel and bluefish. Follow the instructions for grilling fish (see page 183). Sardines are at their best in the summer, which makes them perfect candidates for outdoor charcoal grilling.
12 ounces/1 dry pint (325 g) green gooseberries, fresh or frozen, topped and tailed
1 tablespoon (15 g) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
2 green cardamom pods, crushed
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
16 whole sardines, cleaned
1 tablespoon olive oil
Vegetable oil
1. Rinse the gooseberries under cold running water, then drop them into a frying pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Add the butter, sugar, cardamom, and orange zest and juice and cook, covered, over medium-low heat until the berries become pale and are soft when touched, about 5 minutes. Remove