We’ve looked at Angelina’s pollo e patate (chicken and potatoes) and agnello e patate (lamb and potatoes). Well, fish is also exquisite with potatoes as well, and while the chicken and lamb were ‘down home’ dishes, pesce al forno con patate, baked fish with potatoes, is elegant enough to serve for a formal dinner party. It is a popular item on the menu of Roman restaurants, where the waiters may dazzle you with their fish-boning skills, as they separate the fish fillets from the lisca (fish backbone) and serve the fillets to you, fully intact, along with a nice helping of creamy, unctuous potato.
The basic technique for baked fish with potatoes, however, is a little different from the other dishes we’ve looked at. The main difference is that fish, even a whole fish called for here, takes less time to cook than potatoes. The recipes for this dish generally suggest one or both of two ways to get around this: some recipes (including most modern ones) will tell you to slice the potatoes into paper-thin slices; this speeds up their cooking time. Older recipes, including one from Ada Boni in her iconic Talismano, suggest that you oven roast the potatoes for a good 20-30 minutes before you add the fish; this gives them a good head start in the cooking process. I prefer the older method, since it is basically fool-proof. Either way, the fish is not mixed up in pieces as for chicken or lamb, but laid, whole (head and tail included) on top of a bed of potatoes. Often, a few pomodorini (cherry tomatoes) are laid around the fish as well to add color and flavor.
Ingredients
Serves 3-6, depending on the size of the fish and appetites
- 1 whole fish, cleaned and gutted, but with the head and tail left on (see Notes)
- 4-6 medium potatoes (or more if you like)
- Olive Oil
- A sprig of fresh rosemary (or another fresh herb of your choice)
- Salt and Pepper
Optional:
- A garlic clove, finely chopped
- A few cherry tomatoes, split in half
- A drizzle of white wine
Directions
Peel and slice the potatoes as thinly as you can manage. (If you have a ‘mandoline’ or food processor with a slicing blade, it will make short work of this. But if you have decent knife skills, it should not take long.
Mix the potato slices with a generous amount of olive oil, salt, pepper and a few rosemary leaves that you will have finely chopped. If using the garlic, add it as well. (In the alternative, you can simply rub the baking dish with garlic, which gives a very subtle savoriness to the dish, suitable for more formal occasions.)
Lay the potato slices on the bottom of a baking dish large enough to accommodate the fish and potatoes comfortably. (If you want to be fancy, you can arrange the slices in neat rows or an attractive pattern for a more elegant look.)
Roast the potatoes in a moderate hot oven (190°C/375°F) for about 20-30 minutes. Then remove them from the oven and lay the whole fish, which you will have seasoned well with salt and pepper, over the potatoes, with the sprig of rosemary (or another herb you fancy) inserted inside it. If using, arrange the tomato halves around the fish. Drizzle the whole with some more olive oil and, if you like, a bit of white wine (not too much) which will help the potatoes to soften and add a slight tartness that complements the dish.
Bake the fish until done, usually about 20-30 minutes more (see Notes). Let your baked fish with potatoes rest and cool off for a good 5-10 minutes before serving. Now it’s time for you to show off your fish-boning skills for all your guests… and even if your fish boning skills won’t dazzle them—and that’s certainly the case with me—the fish will still be delicious!
Notes
Just about any decent sized fish will do. In Rome, I remember the most popular fish seemed to be orata (sea bream) and spigola (aka branzino), European sea bass, which I have seen marketed here in the US with the Italian name ‘branzino’. But red snapper, for example, is very fine indeed made this way, too. Do be sure to tell your fishmonger to scale and gut the fish, but to leave head and tail on. Not only is the presentation more dramatic, these parts of the fish do add a great deal of flavor, even if you don’t eat them. (Actually, they say the most delicate part of the fish is the cheek, which you can ‘fish out’ with a spoon—pardon the pun—right below the eye.) If you are squeamish about the idea, however, the recipe will still work with head and tail removed. You can even use fish fillets if you like, but then increase the cooking time for the potatoes so they are almost done before laying on your fillets, which should only take about five minutes more.
Speaking of cooking time, you may have seen or read the ‘rule of thumb’ for cooking fish: 10 minutes per 2.5cm/1 inch of thickness. I find that this works rather well, but I usually shave a couple of minutes off the total cooking time, as I abhor overcooked fish. You can also calculate cooking time by weight, as shown here. As for meat, you can usually tell when fish is done by its texture: once it loses its springiness when you poke it with your fingers, it is done. If you wait until the flesh is flaky, it’ll be overdone.
Boning a whole fish is a real skill. Watching your waiter fillet a fish at tableside is one of the small delights of dining in a good fish restaurant in Rome (and elsewhere in Italy). But it is a skill that just about anyone can master, and a great way to impress your dinner guests! There are a few different ways to do it, but my basic technique is to slip my filleting knife from the sides of the fish, along the top of the backbone to loosen the fillets above. Then I cut vertically from above along the backbone to cut the flesh into two halves, then lift each half, intact, on to plates. The backbone will now be exposed, ready to lift out, leaving the flesh below, which you can easily cut in half and lift out. This produces four nice fillets for your diners. Smaller fish (like trout) will produce only two fillets, one top and one bottom, while very large fish you can give your eight pieces by splitting the fillets cross-wise. It’s one of those things that sounds more complicated than it really is. The best way to learn is to see it done; this video, which shows a slightly different and simpler method, is a bit worn but it shows you the basic method.
Personally, I love fish skin so I never remove it, but for those who want skinless fillets, it is quite easy to remove the top side skin before you begin this operation. In fact, as shown in the video, it does make the job of filleting that much easier.
NB: Remember, filleting a fish only removes the backbone. You and your dining companions will still need to take care to remove the pin bones as you eat.
But don’t all this deter you, as it will become second nature with time, and baked fish with potatoes is one of the great delights of the Italian—or any other—table!
Pesce al forno con patate (Oven Roasted Whole Fish with Potatoes)
Ingredients
- 1 whole fish cleaned and gutted, but with the head and tail left on (see Notes)
- 4-6 medium potatoes or more if you like
- Olive Oil
- A sprig of fresh rosemary or another fresh herb of your choice
- Salt and Pepper
Optional:
- A garlic clove finely chopped
- A few cherry tomatoes split in half
- A drizzle of white wine
Instructions
- Peel and slice the potatoes as thinly as you can manage. (If you have a 'mandoline' or food processor with a slicing blade, it will make short work of this. But if you have decent knife skills, it should not take long.
- Mix the potato slices with a generous amount of olive oil, salt, pepper and a few rosemary leaves that you will have finely chopped. If using the garlic, add it as well. (In the alternative, you can simply rub the baking dish with garlic, which gives a very subtle savoriness to the dish, suitable for more formal occasions.)
- Lay the potato slices on the bottom of a baking dish large enough to accommodate the fish and potatoes comfortably. (If you want to be fancy, you can arrange the slices in neat rows or an attractive pattern for a more elegant look.)
- Roast the potatoes in a moderate hot oven (190°C/375°F) for about 20-30 minutes. Then remove them from the oven and lay the whole fish, which you will have seasoned well with salt and pepper, over the potatoes, with the sprig of rosemary inserted inside it. If using, arrange the tomato halves around the fish. Drizzle the whole with some more olive oil and, if you like, a bit of white wine (not too much) which will help the potatoes to soften and add a slight tartness that complements the dish.
- Roast the fish until done, usually about 20-30 minutes more. Let the dish rest and cool off for a good 5-10 minutes before serving.
20 Comments on “Pesce al forno con patate (Baked Fish with Potatoes)”
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We had this dish today, but not the first time.Two oratas/sea breams (with heads and tails…), potatoes from this year, so called “new potatoes”- always a highlight in early summer here in Germany, and marzano tomatoes, fresh garlic and rosemary. Delicious, thank you for the recipe.
Sounds delightful, Johannes!
I love all iterations of this, Isn’t the head one of those “lucky’ things as well? Odd, no shortage of whole fish in Montréal – and you are far closer to the ocean whether you’re in NYC or DC nowadays.
Many cultures see some kind of pulses as signs of prosperity, though they are a staple food. The cotechino slices are “coin” shaped as are the lentils.
But I like the fish and potatoes fish even with fillets, if just for myself. Of course the potatoes need far more cooking then.
The issue here isn’t so much availability as tastes. Many people are squeamish about fish with heads still on. Same reason why you need to go to an “ethnic” market if you want a chicken with its head and feet on as well…
Thank you again for all you do. I thoroughly enjoy every recipe posted. continued success…and please post as often as possible.. Love every recipe…❤️
And thank you so much, Jo-Anne, for your loyal readership! So happy you’re enjoying the site.
It went very well. I roasted a trout with some nice fingerling potatoes (which I left unpeeled). Thanks again, Frank, for the helpful nudge 🙂
One of my favorites! I also like to add olives and pine nuts to my potatoes, peccato that it is so hard to find whole fish in the States.
Nice post and picture,blogger.I want to go out to order a fish in the restaurant.
@Drick: Be my guest. It's a tricky thing to explain in writing but simple if you see it. Sort of like riding a bicycle?
@Pola: I couldn't agree more!
@Ciao Chow Linda: Sounds yummy…
I ate a whole branzino baked in the oven at a restaurant last night but it's been years since I made one myself. Thanks for the inspiration to try it at home.
Always a great way to enjoy fish! I always go after the cheek and for red snapper also after that meaty part on the top of the head. The meat in the head is so juicy and delicious I just cannot resist!
beautiful dish Frank, really great presentation and I can smell aroma and taste the flavors just from the photo… I just the other day worked on a recipe for a cookbook featuring a whole fish and struggled with explaining how to eat it at the table… will come back for pointers…
Thanks, all, for your kind comments!
@Elisa: I can imagine that whiting would be wonderful made this way. I love smoked whiting for its tenderness and unctuousness—roasting must bring out the same qualities as well.
@Yesim @Simona: Let us know how it goes!
@Arturo: Well, that's fine so long as I don't have to foot the bill, lol! (Hope you enjoyed it…)
I blame you for making me buy fish today! LOL! thanks!
Very nice, Frank. You really made me want to go out and get a nice fish to roast with potatoes.
Really delicious…
Looks great.. also in turkey the fish season started and while i can find fresh fish, my next dish d be fish..
We love whiting. When properly cooked, the meat falls off the bone.