Recipe contributed by Georgeanne Brennan and initially published in her book La Vie Rustic—Cooking & Living in the French Style (Weldon Owen, 2017).
Ingredients
- 1 whole fish, 3 to 3 ½ pounds, such as rock cod or sea bass, cleaned and scaled but with head and tail intact
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 6 fresh branches of wild fennel, each 12 to 18 inches long (or substitute cultivated fennel stalks and leaves plus 2 teaspoons of fennel seeds)
- 2 lemons, thinly sliced
- Grapeseed oil or canola for the grill
Preparation
Make a wood or charcoal fire in a barbecue grill or preheat a gas grill. Rub the grill well with the oil.
Remove the fish from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Pat dry, inside and out.
Lay 5 of the fennel branches on a platter or baking sheet and put the fish on them. Rub the fish all over with the olive oil, salt and pepper, including the cavity. Break the remaining stalk of fennel in half and tuck it into the fish cavity along with some of the lemon slices. If using fennel seeds, put some of these in the cavity as well, and rub the outside of the fish with the remainder.
The fennel stalks will have gotten basted a bit with the olive oil while the fish was being prepared, but rub the stalks a little to distribute the olive oil
Place 2 of these fennel stalks in a fish grilling basket or directly on the grill to make a bed, on an angle across the grill. Lay the fish on top and cover with the remaining stalks.
Grill until the skin is golden and crisp and easily separates from the grill or grill basket, about 8 minutes. If the skin is crisped, the fish is less likely to stick to the grill. If using a basket, simply turn it over. If you are cooking directly on a grill, slip a long spatula under the fish and, with a second spatula to help, turn it. Grill until the second side is crisp and golden, and an instant-read thermometer reads 135 °F when inserted into the thickest part of the fish, but not touching the bone.
The flesh should flake easily when gently separated with the tip of a knife.
Remove to a platter, using the same technique you used to flip the fish. Remove and discard the fennel, both inside and outside, and the interior lemon slices.
Let the fish rest for 5 minutes. Have a serving platter ready.
With a sharp knife, cut the fish along the backbone from the head to the tail. Make a crosscut behind the head from one side to the other and a similar one behind the tail. With the flat of the knife parallel to the bone, gently lift the top fillet away from the bone and transfer to the serving platter. Starting from the tail, lift the bone until it separates from the bottom fillet. The head will remain attached to the bone, separating from the bottom fillet along with it. Discard the head, tail and bone. Transfer the bottom fillet to the platter and garnish with the remaining lemon slices.
Serve at once.
