Grilled barramundi

Ingredients

• Barramundi or sea bass — whole, gutted1.5 kg
• Lemon myrtle — or lemon zest1 tsp
• Limes3
• Garlic4 clove
• Butter80 g
• Parsley30 g
• Fennel1
• Olive oil60 ml
• Potatoes — to serve800 g
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Cut three slashes on each side of the fish and pat it completely dry.

   8 min

2. 2

   Work the garlic with the butter, lemon myrtle, lime zest, salt and pepper.

   8 min

3. 3

   Rub the mixture into the slashes and the cavity and tuck slices of lime and fennel inside.

   10 min

4. 4

   Wrap the fish in foil with the seams on top so the juices do not run out.

   6 min

5. 5

   Light the coals and rake them to the sides; the heat under the fish has to be indirect.

   25 min

6. 6

   Cook it in the foil for twenty minutes, turning the parcel once halfway.

   22 min

7. 7

   Unwrap it, move the fish onto an oiled grate over the coals and give it a minute a side for the crust.

   6 min

About the dish

The fish is cooked in two stages: first in foil over indirect heat, then two minutes bare over direct. The flesh cooks evenly and the skin still gets a crust.

Lemon myrtle, an Australian plant with an intense citrus aroma, is several times stronger than zest. It goes in by the pinch, and overdoing it is very easy.

Barramundi is cooked skin on and served whole. Fillets have no place here: the skin holds the fish's shape on the grate and keeps the flesh from drying.

Worth knowing

• — Heat and oil the grate before the bare fish goes on. On a cold one the skin sticks and stays on the bars.
• — Test at the thickest part: the flesh should lift easily from the backbone. A thermometer reads 60 °C.
• — Lemon myrtle is sold dried in Australian shops. Lemon zest substitutes partly, but the aroma comes out weaker.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

520 kcal

Protein

48 g

Fat

24 g

Carbs

28 g

More from Australia

• Lamingtons — Cubes of sponge dipped in chocolate icing and rolled in desiccated coconut.
• Australian meat pie — A hand-sized pie with a thick beef filling: shortcrust base, puff lid, tomato sauce on top.
• Anzac biscuits — Oat biscuits on golden syrup and bicarbonate, without eggs, keeping for weeks.