Baked, Whole Bass

While we were in New York, we had dinner with our friends, Vivian and Chris at a great restaurant called Hearth. Dick and I shared the whole fish special, which happened to be baked bass that night. It was absolutely delicious. As we discussed the meal, Chris mentioned that he often bakes a whole bass at home, and that it was very easy. Dick and I have been cooking (mostly baking) a lot more fresh fish since moving to the Seattle Area. We thought this would be a fun thing to try.

We found a couple of recipes online, and ended up doing a combination of the two.

The fish turned out really delicious, and was super simple to make. We've grilled whole trout before, but I think this is the first whole fish we have ever baked. I think we were intimidated by it before, but it turned out to be pretty simple.

Here's the modified recipe we used:

Ingredients

1 lb whole bass ( cleaned and scaled)
3 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh coarse ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3-4 lemon slices
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
1/3 cup white wine


Directions

Preheat oven to 450F°.
In a cup, mix garlic, olive oil, salt, and black pepper.
Make 3 diagonal slices about 1/2-inch deep on each side of the fish.
Stuff cavity of fish with lemon wedges and sprigs of thyme
Place fish in a shallow glass or ceramic baking dish.
Rub fish with oil mixture.
Pour wine over fish.
Bake fish, uncovered, for 20 minutes (or until the thickest part of the fish flakes easily).
Drizzle remaining pan juices over fish and garnish with lemon wedges.


Mr Fish all rubbed and season and ready to go into the oven


Baked, and out of the oven


Looking pretty in the serving dish


Served with Dick's fancy broccoli!

Apologies to my sister, who is grossed out by photos of cooked/dead whole fish with eyes...