Whole fish wrapped in paper on a silver baking tray

Chermoula fish

Name: Chermoula fish
Total time: 35 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 4 slices (cut the remaining lemon into wedges, to serve) lemon; 4 large bay leaves scrunched; 4 whole sea bream or bass scaled, gutted and cleaned, and slashed 3 times on each side; a small bunch coriander roughly chopped; a small bunch flat-leaf parsley roughly chopped; 50ml olive oil; ½ lemon juiced; 2 tsp smoked paprika (sweet or hot); 1 tsp ground cumin; 2 cloves garlic peeled; 1 small red chilli stem removed

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Serves 4

Easy

Total time: 35 mins

A star rating of 5 out of 5.2 ratingsRate

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Flavour sea bream or bass with a quick homemade chermoula tonight. Wrapping fish in baking paper is a great hack for anxious fish cooks, as it guarantees the fish cooks well and stays moist

Gluten free

Healthy

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Alternatives

Complete the dish

Make this chermoula fish, then check out our steamed sea bass, sea bass parcels or more of our sea bass recipes.

The fish, sealed in with its steamy vapours, can’t dry out too terribly if your mealtime organisation slips up. The liquid that seasons and cooks the fish within the parcel can be as minimal as olive oil or butter and a slosh of white wine or citrus juice.

Recipe adapted from Home Cookery Year by Claire Thomson (£30, Quadrille). Photography by Sam Folan

Ingredients

Nutrition

4 slices (cut the remaining lemon into wedges, to serve) lemon
4 large bay leaves

scrunched
4 whole sea bream or bass

scaled, gutted and cleaned, and slashed 3 times on each side

CHERMOULA

a small bunch coriander

roughly chopped
a small bunch flat-leaf parsley

roughly chopped
50ml olive oil
½ lemon

juiced
2 tsp smoked paprika (sweet or hot)
1 tsp ground cumin
2 cloves garlic

peeled
1 small red chilli

stem removed

Nutrition: per serving

kcal353

low
fat21.4g
saturates3.8g
carbs1.5g
sugars0.6g
fibre1.3g
protein37.9g
salt0.3g

Method

step 1

Use a food processor to blend together all the chermoula ingredients to form a smooth sauce. Season and set aside.
step 2

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 and put a baking tray in the oven to heat up. Cut four large sheets of baking paper and fold each in half – each should be big enough to fit a whole fish. Season the fish and put one in each parcel with a lemon slice and a bay leaf. Spoon over 1 tbsp of chermoula per fish. Fold up the sides of the parcels to seal. Space the parcels on the baking tray in a single layer and bake for 18-20 minutes or until cooked through.
step 3

Put a parcel on each plate and let your guests unwrap their portion at the table. Serve with the remaining chermoula for everyone to help themselves.

Take a look at our healthy fish recipes here

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A star rating of 5 out of 5.2 ratings

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