Salt Baked Sea-bass with a summer fennel and bean salad

Although the most abundant ingredient in this recipe is salt, this dish is not salty. The purpose of the salt is to encrust the whole fish, cook it evenly and not let it dry out. The result is a very moist fish with clean and pure flavor. My favorite fish to cook using the salt crust method is the SeaBass, but you can use almost any whole fish. Serve this dish with a yummy salad for a simple summer meal. Oh and all the salad ingredients have been organically grown in mr garden😊

Ingredients
Serves 2

For the sea bass

1kg Line-caught sea bass, gutted and scaled
1kg fine sea salt
2 free range egg whites
1Fennel bulb Finley sliced tops an fonds saved apart

3 bay leaves
1 onion Finley sliced
1 lemon
1 bunch of dill , 1/2 Finley chopped

1 handful cherry tomatoes halved
200g freshly podded board beans and peas , blanched and de skinned if you have the time😁

Method

Preheat an oven to 220C

1. Mix together the 1kg of salt, dill and egg whites until you have a paste of damp salt.

2. Line a large roasting tray with salt, at least 1.5cm deep

3. place the sliced fennel, onion, lemon and bay leaves on top of the salt base and place the sea bass on top of the salt.fill the cavity of the sea bass with the remaining dill

4. Cover the sea bass with the remaining salt, patting it down so that it tightly and thickly covers the entire fish. Moisten the salt a little more if necessary to make it stick.

5. Place the salt covered sea bass into the preheated oven and bake for 30 /40minutes

6. Meanwhile, make the salad Very finely chop the fennel fronds and place into a mixing bowl. Add the tomatoes, peas, broad beans and chickpeas. Stir in the lemon juice,and olive oil. Add the salad leaves and toss together Taste and season with pepper as necessary.

7. To serve, crack the salt crust open and discard the salt. Peel away the skin of the fish, fillet the flesh, discarding any bones and serve immediately with the salad.