Last updated: 16 December, 2024 @ 14:40
Early September sees wild gilthead bream appearing at our fishmongers down here on the south coast, which makes it the ideal time to cook one of our favourite bream recipes – Rick Stein’s Baked whole bream with potatoes.
This beautiful fish, with its distinctive golden bar on its blunt forehead and shimmering, silvery scales, was once considered rare in British coastal waters.
However, gilthead bream are now seen in increasing numbers off the coasts of south and south west of England – which is good news, as wild gilthead bream makes for fantastic eating.
Gilthead bream also farms well, which means the majority of gilthead bream found in fishmongers in the UK are farmed – imported from places such as Greece.
It’s easy to distinguish between a farmed gilthead bream and a wild fish. A farmed fish will be duller in appearance, with those shimmering silvery scales not quite as bright as they should be.
The cavity of a farmed gilthead bream will also consist of more fat, as a farmed fish doesn’t have to work as hard for its food.
Farmed gilthead bream also makes for good eating, especially on a barbecue when that extra fat helps to cook the fish beautifully over hot coals.
If you can’t get wild gilthead bream, then the farmed version is an acceptable alternative. However, it must be said – the wild gilthead bream is a far superior fish.
Baked whole bream with potatoes
Taken from the excellent cookbook, Rick Stein’s Secret France (read the Fish Face Seafood Blog review) Baked whole bream with potatoes is one of the most simple and delicious gilthead bream recipes.
Rick writes: ‘This recipe comes from Les Templiers, a bar in Collioure, southern France. I particularly liked it because I thought I’d personally evolved the way of baking fish in the oven on a bed of vegetables, including such things as sliced potatoes, tomatoes and garlic.
‘I’d worked out that you had to precook the vegetables, otherwise the fish would be absurdly overcooked’.
This two-step cooking process actually makes the recipe easier – giving you no excuse for not cooking it!
Cooking Baked whole bream with potatoes
In addition to a couple of beautiful gilthead bream, you’ll also need some waxy potatoes, good tomatoes, olives, garlic, lemon, salt and pepper, and olive oil.
Rick also suggests seasoning with his own peppermix, the recipe for which can be found in his book.
However, if you’re feeling a touch daring, we’ll add a good sprinkling of Tajin (available to buy at Amazon).
The idea of the dish is to place a layer of thin rounds of potato onto a baking tray, season, add a glug of olive oil and then bake in a moderately hot oven for 15 minutes.
Whilst your potatoes are cooking, you can then prepare the rest of your ingredients.
It’s then a case of adding a layer of sliced tomatoes, and your garlic and olives.
We’ll also throw in some thyme and capers, before placing the beautiful gilthead bream on top, adding a squeeze of lemon and another glug of olive oil, and transferring back to the oven for about 25 minutes.
To serve, we take the whole tray to the table, from where everybody can help themselves.
Cookbook: Rick Stein’s Secret France
Rick Stein’s Secret France is a beautifully presented cookbook. From the layout and its use of colours, to the typography and photography – it’s all lovely stuff.
The book also contains a good selection of seafood recipes, as well as a host of others.
Read the Fish Face Seafood Blog review of Rick Stein’s Secret France.
Rick Stein’s Secret France