River Cottage's Steam-Braised Sea Bass with Thyme and Lemon

Steamed fish doesn't exactly have the best reputation outside of spas and health-centric restaurants, but in the hands of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Nick Fisher, gently cooked fillets are anything but dry and boring. Dubbed "steam-braising" in The River Cottage Fish Book, their method consists of using a rich (read: butter and olive oil) sauce full of herbs, wine, and garlic to gently steam (and braise, I suppose) small medallions of sea bass (or most other white, flaky fish). The emerges f...

Whole Roasted Fish With Fresh Herbs and Lemon

Roasting fish whole is one of the easiest, most delicious ways to cook it. Cooked on the bone and in its skin, the meat remains more tender and juicy than fillets or steaks do.

Whole Grilled Fish With Olive-Tomato Compote

Grilling may be one of my favorite ways to cook a whole fish—the intense direct heat does wonders for the skin, crisping it up while the coals below impart a delicious flavor to the fish itself. Granted, it's not quite as easy as just tossing a whole fish in the oven, but a few key steps will guarantee it comes out perfect every time.

Dinner Tonight: Pan-Roasted Whole Fish with Olives

I turned to Mario Batali for this recipe from his book Molto Mario. The sauce is marvelous: black olives, capers, white, and lemon zest are spooned into the skillet after the fish gets a thorough searing over high heat. In the oven, it practically melts with the pan juices.

Whole Roast Fish for 2 With Mushroom Pesto and Roasted Wild Mushrooms

This is an elegant meal for two, but not too elegant to make at home. A big sea bass or bream, stuffed with mushroom-truffle pesto, full of parsley and basil and pine nuts, and topped with crisp-broiled mushrooms. Who could resist that for dinner?

Pan-Roasted Whole Branzino

This recipe is incredibly simple, just a stove-to-oven technique with basic herbs.

Roasted Trout with Smoked Salt and Fresh Woody Herbs

One of my favorite ways to eat whole fish is to dress it simply in salt and olive oil, and stuff it with whole twigs of rosemary and thyme. Then I either broil it in the oven, or char it...

River Cottage's Grilled Trout with Fennel

In The River Cottage Fish Book, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Nick Fisher offer a slight variation on the standard stuff-the-trout-with-herbs-and-grill-it method. Instead of picking soft, delicate herbs, they call for overgrown, wild fennel. Then, they not only place the floral, herbaceous plant into the fish cavity (with garlic and bay, of course), but also use the woodiest herbs as a kind of grate for cooking the fish. These woody stems smolder as the fish cooks, adding another layer of smok...

Roasted Blackfish with Olives and Sage Recipe | Cook the Book

For all of the great-for-you reasons there are to cook fish (healthy! full of omega-3s and vitamins! low fat!), there are an equal number of reasons why many home cooks shy away from our scaly friends from the sea—too delicate, lack of cooking confidence, the stinky factor, and sustainability questions. This Roasted Blackfish with Olives and Sage from Melissa Clark's Cook This Now sets out to calm all of our fish-cooking worries.

Salt-Baked Whole Fish With Fresh Herbs

How (and why) to roast a whole fish in a salt crust, resulting in a fish that's juicer than its plain whole-roasted counterpart.