Herb Crusted Branzini

We keep secrets in our house. 🤫 The biggest secret that I keep from my husband is which night I'm planning to cook fish for dinner. 🐟😂 Why, you ask?  My better half is notorious for showing up late to dinner on fish nights.  And fish is the one thing that I hate to eat cold.  In my opinion, fish is meant to be eaten hot out of the oven, a pan or off the grill and never lukewarm or cold.  (Sorry sushi lovers.) 🍣

I used to prepare a fish dinner every Monday night but I finally realized that most weeks on Monday night, my sweet spouse would come home later than usual from work.  After years of getting frustrated while watching my fish cool on the dinner table while waiting on my dinner companion to get home, I got the brilliant idea to  switch up our fish nights. 😠 Who knew that he had the innate ability to sense when I was cooking fish and adjust his schedule accordingly?  My usually hard working and usually prompt husband is notoriously late on fish nights.  It's like Murphy's Law.  Without fail, the only night that he arrives home from work, is the night that I cook fish.   Did I mention how much I hate cold fish?  

If eating a hot fish dinner means keeping it a surprise from my groom, I'll do it.  He's sabotaged my hot fish dinner so many times that it's become a running joke in our house.  All he has to do is shoot me a text that says, "Is it fish night?"  and I know that translates to "I have a late meeting.  I'm coming home late."   It's hard to describe the sense of accomplishment that I feel when I actually pull off a hot fish dinner without him knowing.   🤣  It's the little things. 

Hiding the fish in the basement refrigerator is just one component to pulling off a surprise fish dinner.  😉Luckily, I bought this Branzini over the weekend so it only had to spend one night in refrigerator quarantine.  I had the Whole Foods seafood counter employee scale it and cut off the fins before wrapping it in nondescript brown paper.  (If cooking a fish with eyeballs freaks you out, you can have the the head cut off too.)  

Herb Crusted Branzini
3 pound whole branzini
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 Tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
3  Tablespoons bread crumbs
3 Tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
3 Tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
3 Tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Sprinkle fish cavity with tarragon and 1/4 t. salt.

Heat 2 T. oil in roasting pan.  Add fish and pour in wine.  

Bake 40-50 minutes at 350.  

Heat 1 T. oil, butter and garlic in skillet.

Add bread crumbs, basil, oregano, parsley and 1/2 t. salt.  Cook 3-4 min.

Score skin of fish near gills and pull off toward tail.  

Spread breadcrumb mixture over over fish.  Return to oven and bake 5 minutes.  ​

Clearly, my filet skills are pitiful.  This fish just fell off the bones though and that made my job super easy.  That made for some less than desirable pictures though.  You'll have to take my word for it that this fish is BETTER than it looks.  

​Ciao!

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