Fish in a salt crust

• By Matty Cremona

Baking fish in sea-salt is one of the best ways to cook it. The method seals in the flavour and juices, and it is so satisfying to crack open the salt crust and lift it off, revealing the beautiful fish inside and releasing the delicious aromas.

You will need:

Two white fish of a kilo each (awrat, spnott, dentici or similar - cleaned but not descaled), eight kilos of inexpensive coarse sea-salt, hardy marjoram (merqtux), fennel seeds.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 7/220C. Put the marjoram and fennel seeds inside the cleaned fish. Make two oval-shaped beds of coarse sea-salt in one large or two medium-sized roasting-pans, with a slight hollow in which to lay the fish. Now put down the fish and cover them completely with the rest of the salt. Sprinkle the salt quite generously with water so that it will form a strong crust and then bake the fish for about 30 minutes. Check to see that they are cooked by pushing a skewer right through the thickest part. If it comes out hot, the fish is cooked. Leave it to rest for five minutes. Crack open the crust, lift it off carefully, then remove the skin and serve potions of the fish with some lemon halves, chopped mint and olive oil.