French cuisine · Fish & Seafood

Baked Sea Bream with Herbs

Whole sea bream stuffed with lemon, fennel and thyme and baked on fennel slices in the oven.

Ingredients · for 4 servings

• 2 sea bream (about 500 g each, cleaned)
• 2 fennel bulbs
• 2 lemons
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 onion
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• Salt, pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C top/bottom heat, rinse the sea bream inside and out under cold water, pat dry and score the skin twice diagonally on each side, 1 cm deep.
2. Trim the fennel, set the fronds aside and slice the bulbs lengthwise into 5 mm thin slices; cut the onion into thin rings and crush the garlic.
3. Mix the fennel slices and onion rings with 3 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper and spread them in a large baking dish.
4. Salt the fish inside and stuff with lemon slices, thyme sprigs, the fennel fronds and the garlic, then place on the bed of vegetables, brush with the remaining oil and salt the outside.
5. Pour in the white wine and bake 30–35 min, until the skin is golden brown and the dorsal fin comes out easily — baste once with the pan juices after 20 min.
6. Let the fish rest 3 min, fillet at the table and serve with the oven fennel and lemon wedges.