ROASTED BRANZINO WITH HERBACIOUS OLIVE OIL
My favorite dish from our Italian honeymoon, brought to your home.
4 servings, 1 hour
Ingredients:
2 whole branzinos - see note below
1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil, I like Laudemio (¼ cup for drizzle, ¼ cup for dressing)
2 lemons
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsp fresh mint leaves, chopped
Handful of fresh parsley
Salt
Pepper
The Blistered Peppers Take:
Don’t fear the name. I feel like most of us don’t cook certain things at home because of the way they look (fish heads eek!), the name of the dish (what even is Branzino?), and a variety of other illogical reasons that make us scared or intimidated. Whether lobster, scallops, or duck I could give you a hundred examples of foods we don’t make at home, but hopefully over time you will venture into trying them with our help.
Let’s get back to it: Branzino is definitely an intimidating dish. Branzino is simply the name of the fish, it is a mild tasting white fish that is very flakey and delicate when cooked correctly. And as I’ve said in the past, fish cooks up pretty quickly so you won’t find yourself kitchen-side all day long. Go to a good fishmonger or a grocery store that you trust in the fish department, ask them to cut and clean your Branzino really well. Alternatively, you can use branzino filets that will already be beheaded, deboned, and cleaned.
My favorite Branzino is at Conca del Sogno. They do a salt baked version that is truly out of this world. Check out our Instagram for more details. It is flaky, sweet, fresh, salty, I can’t even express my love for their herbaceous olive oil. Once I tried Conca’s version, I was hooked and knew I needed to experiment at home. How can I make this a Blistered Peppers go-to? And so I experimented with different versions of fresh herb combos and this became my ultimate favorite. But, if you’re not a fan of mint you can swap and play around with dill and chives (two herbs that both go well with fish and with lemon).
Because a lot of this dish relies on the herb-y olive oil, you know I’m going to recommend high quality ingredients and a spectacle olive oil - insert Laudemio. It’s a little pricier, but it’s worth it for recipes where the olive oil is the star. So if you can find it in smaller batches, do it. Or use your favorite, small batched, elevated olive oil to stand out alongside this Branzino dish.
Do yourself a favor this weekend. Prepare this Branzino (I like to serve alongside a nice arugula salad or some good roasted potatoes) pop your favorite bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, Grüner Veltliner, or Pinot Grigio. And enjoy! Send me your pics and tag me on social. Enjoy!
Check out some of our other favorite fish dishes here at Blistered Peppers:
Steps:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Meanwhile, whisk together 1/4 cup of really good olive oil, juice from 1 lemon, white wine vinegar, mint leaves, optional parsley or basil, and a generous dash of salt. Shake or whisk well until the consistency thickens and let it sit so flavors marinate a bit.
As the oven heats, fill the cleaned branzino with lemon slices, fresh parsley, and a heavy sprinkle of salt and black pepper. Drizzle the outside of the branzino with the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, then broil for 3-5 minutes so the skin blisters. Allow the fish to cool for about 5 minutes, then use two forks to remove the skin. Using a fork or spoon, carefully debone the fish - once you determine where the backbone is you can carefully lift the spine from the flesh.
Serve with a generous spoonful (or two!) of the herby olive oil dressing and enjoy!
