After the houseful of visiting family and planning meals for a crowd, it’s been a quiet week cooking for two. I bought two lovely lubinas de ración, single-portion sea bass (each weighing about 1 ½ pounds) and had them opened up a la espalda—“on their backs”—or butterflied. I cooked them in no time on a gas grill and served them with an aliño of garlic, parsley, and olive oil.
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| Whole sea bass, one per person, are butterflied, grilled and served with a garlic-parsley sauce. |
A butterflied fish is quick to cook, whether on the grill or in the oven. At my local market, the fish vendor is accustomed to clean and cut-up the fish in any way you wish. I can shop at the vegetable stall while she does the messy work.
If you’re doing it yourself, here’s how. Use a sharp boning knife or kitchen scissors and trim off the fins and the tail. If the fish is going to cook on the grill, don’t scale it. Scales protect the flesh from flare-ups and prevent the skin from sticking to the grill rack. (But if the fish is to be grilled on a plancha or roasted in the oven, scale the fish. Place the fish on a sheet of newspaper. Scrape the scales off with a dull blade from the tail to the head. Roll up and discard the paper with the scales.) Use a heavy knife or cleaver to split open the head of the fish without severing the two halves. Place the fish on its side. With the sharp boning knife kept flat against the spine, cut the top fillet away from the bone, working from head to tail. Leave the fillet attached along the back. Open the fish “like a book.” Clean out the viscera but leave the spine in place until after the fish is cooked.
Grilled Sea Bass
Lubina a la Parilla
2 whole sea bass (each about 1 ½ pounds), butterflied
Salt
Pepper
Lemon wedge
Garlic-Parsley Sauce to serve (recipe follows)
Smashed Potatoes to accompany (recipe below)
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| Hinged grill rack makes flipping fish easy. |
Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper and let it come to room temperature. Preheat gas grill or light charcoal. Wipe the grill rack with the lemon wedge. A hinged grill is useful for turning the fish. Lay the fish open “on its back,” skin-side down, over the flame or coals. Grill about 5 minutes. Flip the fish (easy with a hinged grill) and grill the reverse side briefly. The fish is done when you can easily lift the spine from the flesh.
Discard spine. Serve the fish, one per person. If grilling a larger fish, serving two, after discarding the spine, lift the fillets away from the skin and serve one fillet per person. Spoon the garlic-parsley sauce over the fish.
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| Simple sauce of fried garlic and parsley complements the fresh fish. |
Garlic-Parsley Sauce for Fish
Aliño para Pescado
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, sliced
Red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons vinegar
Salt
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| Sauce for fish and potatoes. |
Heat the oil in a small skillet and gently fry the sliced garlic until it begins to turn golden. Add the red pepper flakes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the parsley, vinegar and a pinch of salt. Stir the sauce before spooning it over grilled fish or vegetables.
Smashed Potatoes
Patatas Aplastadas
In Spain, these small potatoes are marketed as patatas de guarnación, or “potatoes for garnishing.”
Small potatoes
Olive oil
Coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Garlic-Parsley Sauce (aliño)
Cook the unpeeled potatoes in salted boiling water until they are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain well. Place them on a work surface and with the palm of the hand or the bottom of a tea cup, press them gently to split the skins and flatten them slightly. (They can be cooked and smashed in advance.)
Heat the oil in a heavy skillet and brown the potatoes on one side. Place them on a plate, browned side up, and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Spoon some of the garlic-parsley sauce on them to serve.
More ways to grill fish:
That looks delicious - I usually cook lubina whole, but I do butterfly caballa often and I cut the bone out before cooking, trying to remove as many pin bones as possible, but that's much less of an issue with lubina or dorada. Your Aliño para Pescado looks good, I will be trying it!
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