Whole Baked Fish – Snapper with Garlic & Dill Butter Sauce

The easiest and best way to cook a fish is to make a Whole Baked Fish. The flesh is at its juiciest and most tender, and it’s completely effortless. Cooking fish this way is easy enough for midweek meals, but still makes an impressive centerpiece for occasions! I’m using a whole snapper today, but this recipe will work for virtually any fish.

For this recipe and especially if you are new to roasting whole fish however, I would recommend mostly sticking to what are termed round fish which are fish shaped like the snapper pictured in this post. These are fish that are roughly cylindrical in the center of their bodies, and swim upright (as contrasted with say flat fish like flounder, turbot, sole etc which swim lying flat). Round fish fillets tend to be thicker, making them easier to cook. I would also recommend, for this recipe at least, fish with large and flat fillets such as the snapper pictured. This is for ease of stuffing, for better flesh yield, easier cooking and also for serving.

The natural presentation of a whole fish looks like grand and impressive already, in my opinion! But I think it is nice to add a splash of color to style it up. Deliciously intense seafood juice mingling with garlic butter, all mopped up with warm crusty bread! Add oven-roasted tomatoes – Just drizzled with a touch of olive oil, and sprinkled with a pinch of salt and pepper. I popped this in a tray on the floor level of the oven while the fish was baking, so it didn’t disrupt the circulation of hot air around the fish; Lemon wedges – An essential garnish for any seafood dish, so people can help themselves to as much as they want; and Fresh dill. As for when to serve this? Most certainly this is easy and wholesome enough as a midweek meal to feed the troops.  It looks so great and wonderful seafood is such a treat for anyone that it’s a great centerpiece for gatherings too.

Ingredients:

• 2 x 1.6 lb whole snapper or other whole fish , scaled, gutted and cleaned
• 1 1/2 tsp salt , kosher/cooking
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

STUFFING:

• 1/2 cup fresh dill sprigs, packed
• 1/2 cup parsley leaves, packed
• 4 garlic cloves , finely sliced
• 1 lemon , sliced (8 slices each lemon)

DILL GARLIC BUTTER:

• 10 tbsp unsalted butter , cut into cubes
• 2 tsp garlic , finely minced
• 1 tbsp fresh dill , finely chopped