Striped mullet in a parchment wrapper

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 1 fish, striped mullet (700 g)
• 80 g roe
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 3 sprigs of thyme
• 1 garlic clove(s), crushed
• pepper
• Salt

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 30 minutes

Striped mullet live in the eastern Atlantic from the Canary Islands to southern Norway and the Mediterranean. Depending on the season, their coloration varies from yellowish to reddish-brown and they have a dark red or brown longitudinal stripe from the eye to the caudal fin, as well as several yellow longitudinal stripes. These fish have very tasty meat, which was already known in ancient times. Among gourmets, these fish are more commonly known as rougets de roche. With a total length of over 30 cm, my fish was too large for the pan. So, either fillet and fry it or cook the whole fish in the oven, for example, in a wrapper made of parchment paper. To do this, first remove the fins and gills, pepper and salt the fish inside and out, and press the fresh herbs and garlic clove into the abdominal cavity. The mullet is loosely wrapped in a sufficiently large sheet of parchment paper, with the ends simply folded and pinched together. Place the package on a baking sheet and place it on the second rack of a cold oven. Set the oven to 150°C fan/convection oven and bake the fish for 30-35 minutes. Remove the cooked barbel from the casing, peel back the skin, and arrange the meat on plates. Remove as many bones as possible. This is quite easy with striped barbel because they don’t have many, but they have large, hard bones that are easy to spot. Briefly rinse the roe with water, dry with kitchen paper, and fry in a little butter over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. A potato and cucumber salad is a good side dish.