This is a rather peculiar way of roasting a fish.
The idea is that if you make the fish stand up in the oven, it will roast more evenly and the skin will become uniformly crisp. Ingenius.
I must say it got me totally baffled when I watched an Italian Chef on TV baking his snapper like this.
He assured this was the Italian way and that goes to show how beautifully varied Italian cuisine is.
An Italian born-and-bred gal like me had never come across this before!
Sure enough, I had to try it for myself and, as I often do, added my personal touches here and there….The addition of chillie is definitely my idea of “personal touches”…
To make the fish stand, stuff the cavity of a scaled and gutted snapper with a ball of aluminium covered with baking paper (to prevent the flesh from sticking to the foil).
Than it’s just a matter of scoring or criss-crossing the fish and smother it with a marinade of 2 garlic cloves, 2 small dried chillies, a small handful of chopped up baby capers, two anchovie fillets , a pinch of salt, a splash of white wine, extra-virgin olive oil and fresh parsley.
(I made it an a pestle and mortar, but feel free to use a blender , if easier).
Roast it in a hot oven for about 25/30 minutes, according to how big your fish is (ours was enough for two hungry people)
Richard and I both ate a good portion of fish and potatoes in a civilized manner, but ended up standing by the kitchen bench , forks in hand, scraping the bits of flesh still attached to the bones…
