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- This whole roasted branzino is so easy. It should honestly be everyone's go-to when they want a healthy fish dinner at home. Branzino always takes me back to my travels along the coastlines of France and Italy. And whenever I'm in Mediterranean restaurants here at home in California, it's something that I frequently order off the menu. Now I get that fish with eyes and heads might be a little intimidating to some folks, but I promise you that it really couldn't be any easier.
The oven does most of the work, it cooks in less than 20 minutes, and the end result is the most incredibly moist and flavorful fish, especially with my lemon garlic butter sauce drizzled on top. So let me show you how to make it. To get started, you'll need two whole branzino from the market. And I always ask my fishmonger to clean and descale the fish. They'll happily do it, and it saves you time and energy to not have to clean out all of the fish guts yourself. Place the branzino on a parchment-lined baking tray and pat both the outside and inside cavity of the fish dry.
Then score the skin with three shallow cuts per side. This helps the fish cook more evenly and allows the seasoning to really get into the flesh. It also makes it look extra pretty when you're serving it up at the end. Drizzle the fish with a bit of olive oil and rub it all over with your hands, again, both inside and out. Then generously season it with salt and pepper. When you've got a really fresh, good-quality fish, it really doesn't need much added to it, and most of the flavor is gonna come from the aromatics that we're gonna stuff in it. So in terms of stuffing the cavity to flavor the fish,
I love a simple lemon garlic herb flavor. I'll smash and peel about four to five garlic cloves and set those aside. Smashing just helps to release the natural aroma of the garlic and it doesn't leave tiny pieces in the fish because you will remove the cloves again before serving. So I'll add about two slices of lemon per fish into the cavity. Then a couple of these smashed garlic cloves. And lastly, I'll add a few sprigs of fresh herbs. I'm using parsley today, but many other herbs work as well, including thyme, oregano, and rosemary. (mellow bright music)
I also love to slice up another lemon, then just place those slices around the fish. These don't do anything in terms of flavoring the fish, but I love using these extra lemon slices for garnish when I'm serving up the whole roasted branzino on a platter for guests. Place the baking sheet in a preheated 425 degree Fahrenheit oven and roast the branzino for 16 to 18 minutes depending on size. The fish is done when the flesh is opaque and it flakes easily. And if you'd like the skin crispy, you can move the fish under the broiler for the last one to two minutes.
Just be careful not to overcook it or burn the parchment paper. Now while the branzino is roasting, I'm gonna make my lemon garlic herb butter. This is totally optional, but I love drizzling some of this on the fish when I'm serving it up. And it's super easy to make. Just melt half a cup of unsalted butter in a small pan over low heat. Once it's lightly simmering, add two to three mint garlic cloves and stir it for about 30 seconds.
Remove the pan from the heat and add a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt and the juice from one lemon, which is about three tablespoons of juice. Transfer the lemon garlic butter sauce to a serving bowl, and if you'd like, you can garnish it with some finely chopped fresh herbs before serving. Because the branzino cooks so darn fast, it is now done, so remove that from the oven. And voila! This is what your fish looks like. Now when it comes to serving it up, you have a few options. You can add the whole branzino to a serving platter and top with some of those roasted lemon slices and fresh green herbs for a more vibrant popup green.
You can also drizzle some of the lemon garlic butter sauce on top. This is a great presentation for a dinner party or when you want to impress guests. (mellow bright music) Alternatively, you can serve up the branzino filets if you don't want your guests to have to do any work. I'll chop off the heads, then slice the whole fish in half to get two filets. Then I'll carefully transfer the filets to a serving plate.
Keep in mind that the flesh is so incredibly tender, so you do have to be careful here to not have the filets just fall apart on you. I use a big spatula underneath when I'm transferring it to the plate. Then remove the small pin bones from both halves. The spine is easy to remove by simply lifting it up and out. And if you'd like to drizzle a little bit of the lemon garlic butter sauce here again, you can do that as well. Or you can leave that off for a dairy-free version.
It's up to you. And trust me, the fish will be super flavorful either way. I can tell just by looking at the inside here that it is so moist and tender. So let's take a bite. (mellow bright music) It is buttery, garlicy, lemony. You get a little bit of the garlic infused from the smashed garlic cloves that are on the inside. Of course, you get a little bit more from the lemon garlic butter. It's so simple yet so delicious. Now, I still remember the first time that my niece Nikki had a whole branzino in Italy.
She was not used to getting fish with the head and you know, the whole thing together. And the eyes, you know, as she said, it was looking at her. And it was served to the table and she kinda gave me this look. And I was like, "Trust the process." And they fileted the roasted branzino at the tableside, opened it up, served up the flesh like this on a plate, and she ate it. And she said it was the most delicious fish that she had ever had. And she historically had not been a seafood person up until that time, and now she loves branzino. So I don't know if the moral of that story is cook a really good roasted branzino or take your niece or kids to Italy and they might like the fish better there.
But either way, this is just such a delicious recipe. And while you can certainly eat the skin, if you want to flip the branzino halfway through the cooking process and roast and crisp up both sides of skin, you can absolutely do that. I personally don't typically eat the skin, but you do you if you want to eat it. If you don't wanna eat the skin, it's much easier because you can just roast it and keep it on one side, cook it for 16 to 18 minutes, and you're done. I hope you guys enjoyed this super easy fish recipe. And if you did, make sure to give it a thumbs up. Let me know in the comments below if you have ever roasted branzino before, or if not, hopefully if this nudged you to give it a try.
And with that, I will see you guys in the next video. (mellow bright music)
