Recipes
Contains dairy
If you’ve ever been unsure about cooking a whole fish, look no further. This slow-cooked method is (pretty much) foolproof and will result in moist fish without you having to operate the stove nervously. You’ll also find that buying a whole fish can be surprisingly affordable, with the added benefit of looking pretty impressive when you bring it to the table. A perfect dish for the Christmas feasting table!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2kg - whole salmon (ask your fishmonger to clean it for you, they’ll happily oblige)
- a bunch of fresh herbs like tarragon and rosemary or parsley and dill
- half a fresh lemon
- 30g - butter
Method
- Preheat the oven to 150°C or 130°C fan-forced.
- Pat the salmon dry with a paper towel.
- Put the herbs in its cavity along with half a lemon and a third of the butter.
- Place the salmon on a large sheet of foil; you may have to use two bits overlapping each other to make it big enough.
- Smear the rest of the butter on top of the fish.
- Wrap the salmon loosely in the foil but ensure it’s well sealed.
- Put in the oven on a tray and bake for 1 hr 45 minutes. If your oven is small, you may need to curl the tail up to fit, don’t worry about this!
- To check the fish is cooked, pull a bit of skin carefully back and use a fork to tug at the flesh. It should easily pull away from the bone.