Oven roasted whole snapper

She may not have accompanied him fishing yet, but Sid’s daughter Zoya loves to go to the Auckland Fish Market with him, testing herself by trying to identify the various species. Sid has taught her how to choose the freshest fish by looking at the eyes, which fascinated her once she saw the whole fish cooked. She has politely declined Mum and Dad’s suggestion that she could eat those cooked fish eyes though.

Ingredients

1	Whole snapper, scaled and gutted (Main)
2	Lemons, sliced thinly
1 bunch	Flat leaf (Italian) parsley
10 cloves	Garlic, peeled and crushed
1 serving	Olive oil, for drizzling, plus 50ml for dressing
500 g	Broccolini
2	Sweetcorn, optional
250 g	Brussels sprouts, leaves separated and cores discarded
½	Lemons, juiced

Directions

1. Heat oven to 250C. Make 5 incisions on each side of the fish. Press lemon slices, parsley leaves and garlic into the slits. Drizzle olive oil all over the fish and season with salt.
2. Place the fish on a baking paper-lined oven tray and bake in oven for 10-12 minutes or until fully cooked. If you insert a spoon into the flesh of the fish it should fall away easily.
3. While the fish is cooking bring a saucepan of water with a pinch of salt to the boil. Blanch the broccolini for 2-3 minutes then remove to a colander. Blanch the sweetcorn for 2-3 minutes and remove to the colander. Finally blanch the brussel sprout leaves for 1 minute and drain. Dress all the vegetables with lemon juice, olive oil and salt.
4. When the fish is cooked, transfer to a serving plate and arrange the vegetables around it. Serve with cooked long grain rice.

Read more

Celia Hay's advice on how to choose fresh fish

How to scale, gut and fillet a whole fish

Ray McVinnie's 10 winter seafood ideas