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Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 mins
Total time:
Recipe photograph by Andrew Montgomery
Recipe by Gill Meller
This is a great way to cook fish and works really well on the barbecue as well as a campfire, but if the weather’s just a little too cold, you can use your kitchen grill
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Fish Mains Gluten-free BBQ Dairy-free Camping
Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
324Kcal
Fat
22gr
Saturates
4gr
Carbs
0gr
Sugars
0gr
Fibre
3gr
Salt
2.7gr
Gill Meller
Food writer and chef Gill Meller lives near Lyme Regis in Dorset with his wife and two daughters. He has worked with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at River Cottage HQ for more than 10 years. His book, Gather (Quadrille, £25), was published in 2016.
See more of Gill Meller’s recipes
Gill Meller
Food writer and chef Gill Meller lives near Lyme Regis in Dorset with his wife and two daughters. He has worked with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at River Cottage HQ for more than 10 years. His book, Gather (Quadrille, £25), was published in 2016.
See more of Gill Meller’s recipes
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Ingredients
- 4 sea bass fillets (wild if you can get them)
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 2 tsp sea salt flakes
- 6 fresh bay leaves, very finely chopped
- zest of 1 lemon, then cut the lemon into wedges to serve
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Step by step
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Light the campfire or barbecue, or if cooking at home, preheat the grill to medium-high.
Tip
Bear in mind that all the cooking times will vary, depending on the heat level of your campfire, so go by look and feel, as indicated in the recipe, rather than absolute timings.
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Place the sea bass fillets on a large board and, using a sharp knife, cut 4 x 1cm deep slash marks on the skin side of each fillet. These help the flavours from the rub – and the heat from the fire – to penetrate.
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Use a pestle and mortar (or a spice grinder) to crush the fennel and coriander seeds, the black pepper and salt together. Add the finely chopped bay and lemon zest and mix to combine. Drizzle the olive oil over the fish and rub this in, before scattering over the spiced lemony fennel seed mixture and rub this in too, making sure it gets into the slash marks on the skin side and apply to the flesh side too.
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Place the bass fillets skin-side down onto the hot grill of a barbecue or a metal rack over the campfire (or skin-side up if cooking under the grill) and cook for 4-5 minutes on this side and 1-2 minutes on the other until cooked through. Be careful when turning the fillets, as you don’t want them to break up – a fish grill makes life easier as you simply turn the whole grill over, with the fillets inside. If the barbecue or grill is too hot you will burn the fish, so watch the heat closely. You can take the fish off and allow the embers to die back a little. Serve with lemon wedges, good bread and a salad, or the roasted butternut squash.
