By Greg B. When it comes to fish, I find myself falling in the category of enjoying the flavorful, oily fish with dark meats. Mackerel, Bluefish, Tuna, and not things like Flounder, Whitefish and Cod (except for the Portuguese recipe for pasteis de bacalhau, which are freakin delicious). Especially smoked Bluefish (If anyone knows where I can get this in Baltimore, please let me know!). But knowing how good the salt-encrusted Pork recipe came out, I decided to do something similar but with a whole fish.

When buying fish, there are some things to be aware of, if you have only bought fish from supermarket pre-wrapped packages. First, at a fish monger or fish market, there are generally whole fish, which in this case I wanted. Traditionally, you’ll get the opportunity from the fish monger or his workers to have the fish cleaned as you wish. Try to pick fish that don’t smell fishy and also have clear eyes, not the clouded over, white/blue color. For the whole fish I got, I had the fish guys gut the fish, and ‘scale it’, but no slicing, fillet or any more preparation was necessary. It’s also customary to tip the workers for their work on the fish, so be prepared with some cash in hand!

Bluefish is a fantastic fish. They are great to catch on the ocean as they travel in schools and put of great fights as you reel them in (careful when handling them, they have are aggressive and have very sharp teeth!) and they have this great oily fish flavor to them. They’re filled with all those heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids you may have read about as well, so this is a good healthy option for a fish for dinner.

For this recipe, there are simple ingredients, since I think the flavor of bluefish speaks for itself.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole Bluefish, about 3 lbs
• 2.5lbs coarse salt
• 2 egg whites, beaten and frothed with a little water added
• 1 lemon
• 4 cloves garlic, diced
• 4 kumquats
• chopped parsley
• fresh sage

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F. In the meantime, mix up the egg-whites and water and mix the salt/egg-white mixture together to make a coarse-salt paste. Take the diced garlic and place it inside the fish’s open body cavity along with a few sprigs of sage leaves. Put some of the salt paste on the bottom of a pan to make a base, lay the bluefish on top, place a sprig or two of sage on top of the fish and a few slices of fresh lemon before coating the rest of the fish in the salt crust.

Bake this bluefish for 40 minutes. The reason we are cooking for so long (rather than the normal about 20 minutes for a fish of this size) is because it takes time for the salt crust to form, harden and for the fish to cook inside this crust. Be not afraid! With this salt crust, and if you covered the entire fish, the fish will not dry out, but will retain it’s moisture.

Remove this from the oven and let it sit 5 minutes to cool the salt before cracking it open. Try your best, if you care about presentation, to move it whole to a place, and garnish with some fresh chopped parsley and slice kumquats and you’re done!

This recipe is a pretty good one for this fish. A little of the salt from the crust will work its way into the skin of the fish, but the fish should not be overly salty. It falls apart easily, fork tender and the lemon will add a nice bit of tartness to counter the oily nature of the fish. It’s also pretty easy, more of a recipe to set, go around and do something else, then come back and enjoy dinner. Plus, with summer around the corner easy and light recipes like this one are coming more into season. This was served with a Clipper City Gold Ale, something that was refreshing and would contrast and clear the salt/oil/fish flavor from the mouth between forkfuls.