Monday, November 24, 2014

Spanish Baked Fish

"November Potluck", the theme for this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC). I've decided to make one of Diana Henry's fish recipes, and she has quite a number of fish recipes. 

Ever since I saw the photo of this dish, "Spanish Baked Bream" in the Diana Henry's cookbook, "Food From Plenty", I knew that I will be making it sooner or later. This dish has really simple ingredients and yet it looks so delicious. And it is delicious!

The ingredients needed are fish, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, smoked paprika, white breadcrumbs, garlic and finely chopped parsley. Firstly brush the fish inside and out with olive oil, squeeze on some lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Lay the fish in a baking dish. Mix the breadcrumbs, smoked paprika, crushed garlic, and salt to taste in a small bowl. Scatter this mixture over the fish, drizzle with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Bake in a preheated oven at 190C until fish is cooked through, about 20-30 minutes.



I've used 1 large sea bass, about 600gm, and it takes about 35 minutes to be fully cooked. After about 20 minutes in the oven, the breadcrumbs mixture are beginning to brown, and the fish is still not fully cooked yet, so I have tent the top with foil, and continue to bake until the fish is cooked through. I then sprinkled the finely chopped parsley over the top, and continue to bake for another 3 minutes. Serve hot. Take note of the cooking times, depending on the size of the fish. To know whether the fish is done, I use a fork to poke thru the thickest part of the fish flesh (along the back), if the fork goes thru without any resistance, then the fish is cooked. If the fork can't get thru the meat, then it needs a few minutes more of baking time.

If the fish is large, you might want to bake the fish for 10 or 15 minutes first, before scattering the breadcrumbs mixture over the top and continue on baking until the fish is done.


This is one delicious dish!  Since I've used only one fish, I have used half the ingredients and the next time I would certainly double the ingredients. We had this for dinner with rice and other dishes, and everyone was spooning for the breadcrumbs-paprika mixture. This is one dish that you got to be a little generous with the olive oil and lemon juice. Simple, so easy to cook,  yet so good! I would definitely make this again.


Spanish Baked Bream
serves 4
for the bream :
4 x 300gm (10-1/2oz) bream, gutted, trimmed and scaled
7 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper
5 tsp smoked paprika
4 garlic cloves, crushed
35gm (1-1/4 oz) white breadcrumbs
small handful of flat leat parsley, finely chopped

To serve :
extra virgin olive oil
wedges of lemon
  1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Brush the fish inside and out with olive oil, squeeze on some lemon juice and season well. Lay the fish - in a single layer but close together - in an overproof dish. Mix the smoked paprika, garlic and breadcrumbs together and season. Sprinkle this all over the fish, then drizzle on the remaining oil and lemon juice.
  2. Bake for 20 minutes. Throw on the parsley when the fish has cooked for 15 minutes. The bream is cooked when the flesh near the bone is white and opaque. Drizzle with extra virgin oil and serve with lemon wedges.

I'm linking this post to I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week, "November Potluck"





18 comments:

  1. Joyce, this fish certainly looks impressive and delicious! I have not baked a fish before and I am very tempted to try this recipe. And I would definitely scatter more of the "rempah" LOL!

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  2. Sedap nya! I can rata sampei tinggal tulang 😃

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  3. Joyce, your fish sounds great! I love sea bass, but it's very hard to find around here. The recipe has to be perfect for fish.

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  4. Gorgeous! I love that smoked paprika, garlic and bread crumb mixture--so much great flavor and texture. Definitely bookmarking this one. ;-)

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  5. Joyce, this is a perfect fish dish and something new to me!

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  6. Joyce, this is nice! Where can I get smoked paprika? Thanks!

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    1. Hi Joyce,'
      I bought it from Giant Supermarket, McCormick brand. Smoked paprika is harder to find than sweet paprika. I like smoked paprika!

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  7. we just adore seafood and this fish look delicious. I have never done fish like this before but I am loving it. Pinning this for sure

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  8. Joyce, I love this elegant and delicious baked fish with the smoked paprika, which really makes it Spanish! If it was sweet paprika, automatically would have to be the Hungarian brand. Love the recipe for the crumb mixture!
    Thanks for sharing! xo

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  9. I love baking fish.... so easy. This looks good!

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  10. oooh, what a pretty pretty fish... u r sure an all rounder joyce. wished i had ur skills

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  11. Hi Joyce, what an awesome baked fish!!! I think I can finish the whole fish... this is finger licking good fish!!! Thanks for sharing and regards :)

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  12. The fish looks fantastic Joyce! I love the idea of the crisp breadcrumb topping.

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  13. Joyce, I love baked fish. It always seems to retain the freshness of the fish alot better. And to make it better, yours have a lovely breadcrumb on top. I'm definitely not surprised that everyone is trying to have more scoops of the breadcrumb because I would too. Lovely homecooked dish from Diana Henry!!

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  14. Oh, I can't wait to give this a try. Love the simplicity of this dish, and yet it looks and sounds amazing - proof once again, that good food doesn't need a whole lot of messing with. I know I'm going to love this.

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