Campfire roast fish with lemon and fennel recipe | Sainsbury`s Magazine (2024)
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Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 mins
Total time:
Recipe photograph by Andrew Montgomery
Recipe by Gill Meller
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This is a great way to cook fish and works really well on the barbecue as well as a campfire, but if the weather’s just a little too cold, you can use your kitchen grill
Food writer and chef Gill Meller lives near Lyme Regis in Dorset with his wife and two daughters. He has worked with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at River Cottage HQ for more than 10 years. His book, Gather (Quadrille, £25), was published in 2016.
See more of Gill Meller’s recipes
Gill Meller
Food writer and chef Gill Meller lives near Lyme Regis in Dorset with his wife and two daughters. He has worked with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at River Cottage HQ for more than 10 years. His book, Gather (Quadrille, £25), was published in 2016.
See more of Gill Meller’s recipes
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Ingredients
4 sea bass fillets (wild if you can get them)
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 tsp sea salt flakes
6 fresh bay leaves, very finely chopped
zest of 1 lemon, then cut the lemon into wedges to serve
2 tbsp olive oil
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Light the campfire or barbecue, or if cooking at home, preheat the grill to medium-high.
Tip
Bear in mind that all the cooking times will vary, depending on the heat level of your campfire, so go by look and feel, as indicated in the recipe, rather than absolute timings.
Place the sea bass fillets on a large board and, using a sharp knife, cut 4 x 1cm deep slash marks on the skin side of each fillet. These help the flavours from the rub – and the heat from the fire – to penetrate.
Use a pestle and mortar (or a spice grinder) to crush the fennel and coriander seeds, the black pepper and salt together. Add the finely chopped bay and lemon zest and mix to combine. Drizzle the olive oil over the fish and rub this in, before scattering over the spiced lemony fennel seed mixture and rub this in too, making sure it gets into the slash marks on the skin side and apply to the flesh side too.
Place the bass fillets skin-side down onto the hot grill of a barbecue or a metal rack over the campfire (or skin-side up if cooking under the grill) and cook for 4-5 minutes on this side and 1-2 minutes on the other until cooked through. Be careful when turning the fillets, as you don’t want them to break up – a fish grill makes life easier as you simply turn the whole grill over, with the fillets inside. If the barbecue or grill is too hot you will burn the fish, so watch the heat closely. You can take the fish off and allow the embers to die back a little. Serve with lemon wedges, good bread and a salad, or the roasted butternut squash.
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Place packages on hot coals or on a grill about 4 inches from hot coals. Turn after five minutes. It takes about 10 minutes to cook fish thoroughly, sometimes up to 15 minutes. The fish is cooked completely when it easily flakes apart with a fork and is no longer translucent.
Put fish atop the butter, season with salt and pepper, and squeeze on a little lemon juice. Then fold the foil around the fish and double-fold the edges to seal in the juices. Place a cooking grate 12 inches above campfire coals, and grill the foil-wrapped fish 15 to 20 minutes, turning once.
Cook over a low flame or campfire that has died down to hot coals. You can also put the fish packed in foil directly in the hot coals. When you use a sealed foil pouch, it creates moist flaky fish that's full of flavor, especially when you add lemon slices (or a few extras) inside the pouch.
Cooking fish for 10 minutes per inch of thickness is an old rule of thumb that works perfectly when roasting fillets or steaks. It's just enough time to cook the flesh through so that it's opaque, but not so much that it flakes.
Spray the hot side of the grill grates with oil, being careful not to hold the can too close. Place the fish directly onto the oiled grates directly over the hot coals to sear and crisp the skin.Cook for 2 minutes. Now, you will flip the fish over, but still onto the heat.
And when you cook over the fire pit, you can set up your coals in such a way that your fish cooks slowly over a low heat source. 3 Tips for Grilling Whole/Large Fish Over Indirect Heat: Brush your fish and grill grate with a little bit of cooking oil. Always place the fish skin side up first, then turn it over.
The method is surprisingly simple. You don't even need a smoker, just a regular charcoal grill. All you need to do is set up the grill for indirect heat, cover the coals with soaked aromatic wood chips, lay the fish on the grates, then let the fragrant, flavorful smoke do its work.
If you have one with legs, it can be used over low flames, whereas one without legs should be propped up just above a nice hot coal bed. I also recommend using aluminum foil over your grill surface, as well as lightly greasing the foil with cooking oil or butter before laying on the fish.
We believe all coated cookware is unsuitable for cooking outdoors. PTFE begins to break down at 260 degrees centigrade - that's not very hot. It's pretty easy to accidentally get your pan hotter than that on a campfire or your powerful gas stove. Regardless of the potential health risk, you are damaging your equipment!
With both skewers in place the fish should be well secured to the spit. You can also tie the tail to the spit using strips of bark or string. Cook the fish over the embers of a fire, and keep turning it to prevent burning. By inserting the thick end of the spit into the ground you don't have to hold it constantly.
At first, the flame won't produce consistent heat, and you'll run the risk of burning your meal. Instead, get the fire going and give it time to burn down to coals, says Wolf. “A good fire can take anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes to break down and get to where you'd like it temperature-wise for cooking,” he says.
It also helps immensely to have a tarp or sheet to hang above the fish to help trap the smoke. This will speed up the smoking time significantly. Covered, it will take between 5 and 8 hours depending on humidity and smoke production.Uncovered, it will take anywhere from 12-15 hours and you would need more wood.
Per inch of fish, the general rule is to allow 8-10 minutes of grill time. So, if your fish is two inches in thickness, grill each side for about six to eight minutes.
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Prep time: 10 mins
