Perfectly cooked Whole Sea Bream with Garlic and Chilli. Whole Sea Bream or Sea Bass fish delicately spiced with garlic chilli, lemon and thyme before being wrapped in foil and baked in the oven.
A great fine dining fish meal for 2, to impress your other half with your cooking skills on Valentines or for an anniversary meal!
Who can resist a fish dish! We are big lovers of fish, we often ordered when out at restaurants, before we learnt how easy it is to cook at home!
We buy our Sea Bream from Morrisons supermarket, they always have a great selection of fish there!
What is a substitute for Sea Bream?
If you can not find Sea Bream you can use Sea Bass they are not the same fish but similar.
What is the difference between Sea Bass or Sea Bream?
Above all, both are full of goodness, brimming with Omega - 3 fatty acids with a high Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio.
There is only one species of Sea Bass and they can be caught many places.
However, there are many different species of Sea Bream. In the UK it is farmed so will always be great quality, different areas they will be called Gilthead, Oreata, Dorade or Dorada.
They both reach similar weight however the Sea Bream is longer and slimmer compared the plumper Sea Bass.
Despite the differences, Sea Bream has more meaty flesh then the Sea Bass so we normally opt for that but they both work well with this recipe.
How to prepare a Sea Bream / Sea Bass for cooking?
We buy our Sea Bream already gutted to save some time and it is less messy!
If you are doing it yourself here is a good how to gut a fish guide If you are not a fan of the fish watching you, you can always ask the fishmonger to remove the head for you too!?
So on with the really easy recipe!
Place whole fish on a sheet of foil big enough to wrap it in.
Use a small knife to slice diagonal slits down both sides of the Sea Bream's body, so it can soak up the marinade.
Quick easy cheat ingredient! - Gia Garlic Puree & Gia Chilli Puree
Now, this is where Gia Garlic Puree & Gia Chilli Puree come into there own!
Undoubtedly easy to use and saves you a lot of time and effort peeling/chopping/crushing/mincing/grinding the ingredients yourself!
As you know we are sponsored by The Food Masters to create recipes for them to use on their website and social media accounts.
But we also share them on our site as we love them!
Fresh Garlic & Chilli substitute for puree?
Of course, if you want to use the fresh ingredients this recipe will still work but will just take you a bit longer to prepare!
1-2 medium spiced red chilli (very finely chopped and ground into a paste) = 1 tsp Gia Chilli Puree
2 garlic cloves (peeled & minced) = 1 tsp Gia Garlic Puree
Garlic and Chilli marinade for fish
Simply mix the Garlic and Chilli purees with olive oil.
Using a spoon rub the marinade mixture over the whole Sea Bream.
Push the marinade into the slits you created earlier and inside the pocket where the fishmonger gutted the fish.
Next, add slices of lemon on top of the fish, and thyme sprigs both on top and inside the fish.
A drizzle more oil and a generous sprinkling of salt & pepper.
Before wrapping foil around the Sea Bream, making a parcel.
Last but not least, repeat for next fish.
How long to cook whole Sea Bass or Sea Bream in oven?
Simply bake the marinated Sea Bass / Sea Bream in a foil parcel in a preheated 190°C/ 375°F fan oven for 25-30 minutes.
Absolutely, perfectly cooked! Not only moist but also spicy Sea Bream/ Sea Bass. A perfect treat for your lover on Valentine's day!
As you can see, we served up our fish up with Couscous Roast Potatoes and a simple salad consisting of mixed leaves, tomatoes, cucumber and olives.
What to serve whole oven baked Sea Bream with?
The list of sides to serve with your Sea Bream with Garlic and Chilli is endless, listed below, are some of my favourites!
| Rice Coleslaw Fries Spicy Wedges Sweet Potato Fries Fried Corn Jacket Potato Cous Cous Flat Bread Noodles Patatas Bravas | Steamed Vegetables Roast Potatoes New Potatoes Mash Potatoes Grilled Vegetables Stir-fried Vegetables Roasted Vegetables Salad Quinoa Pasta Potato Slices |
It is a super easy recipe, yet so tasty you will ask yourself why you never tried cooking it at home before!
Sea Bream With Garlic And Chilli
Ingredients
- 2 whole Sea Bream Gutted
- 1 tsp Gia Garlic Puree or 2 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
- 1 tsp Gia Chilli Puree or 1-2 chillies finely sliced and grinded into a paste.
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 Lemon
- 3 sprigs thyme
Instructions
- Preheat the oven 190°C (375 F) FanPlace the Sea Bream on to a square sheet of tin foil, enough to wrap the fish up into a parcel later.
- Slice diagonal slices down both sides of the fish to make openings for the sauce to be placed inside
- Mix the garlic, chilli and olive oil together in a bowl
- Cover the marinade all over the fish, and in the slices you created earlier and the cavity left where the fishmonger has gutted the fish.
- Place slices of lemon on top with sprigs of thyme and sprinkle a generous amount of salt & pepper.
- Wrap the tin foil into a parcel, place on a baking tray in the centre of the Oven and cook for 25-30 mins
- Serve with your choice of sides! Check our blog post for suggestions.Enjoy !!
Video
Nutrition
Hope you enjoyed this Sea Bass /Sea Bream recipe please do save/share it for others to see too.
So now that you have tried one of our recipes, why not try out some of our others too?
Our Basa Fish Curry, Crab linguine or Haddock and Clams in Garlic Sauce, are a few of our favourites!
This recipe is wonderful and serving whole fish definitely impresses dinner guests. This dish is also flavorful!
Thank you so much, Brittany 🙂
Glad you liked the sea bream recipe!!
My first time making a whole fish! Much easier than I expected, fresh and light.
Thank Brianna
Thanks for the comment 🙂
Glad the sea bream came out well, enjoy!!
This turned out amazing! I love cooking the fish in foil. It kept the fish so moist and tender.
Thanks, Amanda
Cooking the sea bream in foil just cooks the fish so well, it's delicious 🙂
Enjoy!!
Yum! There is something so simply plated about a whole fish, it is beautiful and eye catching. I have never cooked a fish whole before and was very nervous to do so. This was so easy and came out delicious! Your steps were easy to follow and resulted in a great dish!
Lovely recipe, very easy to follow and the result was brilliant!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Danny for the comment and rating!!
Glad to hear you like the Seabream recipe, it is the perfect summer fish dish 🙂
Sea bream is one of my favourites but I have never had it like this. It looks gorgeous! Can't wait to make this.
Wow, this looks so fancy! I would absolutely serve this at a dinner party. Thanks for including the easy step-by-step guide too.
This looks delicious and so easy to follow too. Love that garlic and chilli marinade.
Loved this recipe! It had so much flavor and the fish came out perfectly!
Hi Danielle
So glad you loved the sea bream recipe 🙂
Thank you so much for the comment/rating 😉
This beautiful fresh meal reminds me of the summers in the Med! Love how easy, simple and full of flavour it is!
Hi Tania
This recipe certainly gives you that Mediterranian feel about it for sure 🙂
Thanks for the comment and rating Enjoy!!
Hi, Thanks for your idea.
I adapted this recipe to what I had in my kitchen and seasoned bream with salt and black pepper, and placed ingredients on top, under and in cavity as follows: ~ chopped ginger, 2 crushed cloves, chopped coriander, juice of one medium lemon, dried chilli flakes.
Turned out really tasty and was devoured by my daughter.
Didn't want extra oil but half tsp may have made it less dry.
Greatly increase the knowledge becomes more widespread, thank you very much for the information provided
This looks amazing and easy to follow. I love fish so definitely trying this!
Let us know how you get on Karen?
oh my god, that looks absolutely delicious - i love fish
Thanks Nina ❤
omg this plate literally made me drool! I can't wait to make it, can't wait! Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Chad
Thank you, hope you enjoy this recipe!!
I have never heard of sea bream before. But the flaky white bite at the end looked amazing. I would definitely love to try this recipe, but I would probably start with fish fillets instead of the whole fish.
Hi Marie
Thank you!
Fish fillets are a good idea especially if don't like to have a whole fish!
Enjoy!!
You're right, super easy recipe. I have to be honest, I don't usually like fish presented whole- I like to think that when I'm eating fish I don't have to see them in my mind or on my plate, lol- but regardless, this presentation is stunning. Flawless indeed, friend!
Thank you for your comment, I understand what you mean about a whole fish, but it was delicious and we hid the eyes with slices of lemon lol
If you do try this recipe hope you enjoy!!