Oven-Baked Sea Bass with Pearled Barley, Confit Tomatoes and Taggiasca Olives

La storia di questo piatto

Sea bass roasted whole, its skin burnished to gold, rests on a bed of pearl barley as the sea meets the grain of the land. Taggiasca olives and slow-melted tomatoes sit beside it, a home-kitchen dish that gathers Italy's coast and countryside on one plate.

Ingredienti

• 800 g Whole sea bass, cleaned
• 150 g Pearled barley
• 250 g Cherry tomatoes
• 60 g Pitted Taggiasca olives
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 4 sprigs Fresh thyme
• 1 piece Lemon
• 140 ml Extra virgin olive oil
• 6 g Sea salt
• 2 g Black pepper
• 500 ml Vegetable broth

Preparazione

1. Prepare the confit tomatoes: halve the cherry tomatoes, arrange them on a tray lined with parchment, season with 30 ml of oil, one crushed garlic clove, a thyme sprig, 1 g of salt and 0.5 g of pepper. Bake at 110°C for about 50 minutes: they should become wrinkled and shriveled yet still juicy, not dry like raisins. The aroma rising from the oven should be sweet and concentrated.
2. While the tomatoes cook, prepare the sea bass: dry it thoroughly with kitchen paper inside and out, since moisture is the enemy of crispness. Slice half the lemon into thin rounds and stuff the cavity with them, two crushed garlic cloves and two thyme sprigs. Sprinkle inside and out with 3 g of salt and 1 g of pepper and massage well. Set aside the other half of the lemon for the finish.
3. When the tomatoes are ready, remove them from the oven and keep them covered with a sheet of parchment. Raise the oven to 200°C and let it preheat for 15 minutes. Meanwhile cook the barley like a risotto: heat 500 ml of broth over low heat in a small saucepan. In a wide pan heat 30 ml of oil over medium heat, add the barley and toast it for 2 minutes, stirring: you'll smell toasted grain. Add the hot broth a ladleful at a time, stirring each time the liquid is nearly absorbed, for about 30-35 minutes. Keep one ladle of broth aside for final adjustment. When the barley is halfway cooked (after about 15 minutes), put the fish in the oven as described in the next step.
4. With the oven at 200°C, place the sea bass in a tray greased with 20 ml of oil, drizzle the skin with another 20 ml of oil and add a pinch of the remaining pepper. Bake for 22-25 minutes: the skin should become crisp and golden, and the white flesh opaque when you insert a knife tip near the backbone. The fish is cooked when the flesh flakes easily, not while it is still translucent. Remove and let it rest for 3-4 minutes.
5. Finish the barley: off the heat, mantecate it with 20 ml of raw oil, 50 g of Taggiasca olives and 2 g of salt. Stir gently: it should remain soft and flowing, like a wave, without drying out. If it is too dry, add the reserved ladle of hot broth.
6. Fillet the sea bass: score the skin along the backbone and behind the head, lift the fillets with a spoon and knife, remove bones and pin bones while keeping the skin crisp. Spread the barley on plates, lay the fillets on top skin side up, surround with the confit tomatoes and the 10 g of olives set aside. Finish with the grated zest and a few drops of juice from the half lemon, a thread of oil (20 ml) and a thyme sprig. Serve immediately, with the skin still crisp.