GRILLED WHOLE ORATA WITH FRESH HERBS AND EXTRA-VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

Grilled Whole Orata with Fresh Herbs and Extra-Virgin Olive Oil image

The first time I ate at the Atelier of Joël Robuchon in Paris, I saw a whole fish delivered to another customer that I could tell had been boned and deep-fried. The skeleton had been removed but the head and tail, which flipped up so nicely on the plate, had been left intact. I watched in awe as the diner carved into the fish and ate it head to tail, without any of the usual fuss required to eat around the bones of a whole fish. I was so impressed that I told Matt I wanted to put something like that on the Osteria menu. He chose to grill the fish rather than fry it, but it's the same idea. We chose to use orata, also called dorade or sea bream, a classic Mediterranean variety, because you see whole branzino on every Italian menu from California to Campagna, and we wanted to introduce our customers to something different. We wrap the fish in a fig leaf in the fall and a radicchio leaf the rest of the year before grilling it in order to contain the herbs stuffed inside the fish. Boning the fish is the most difficult part of making this dish-and I won't lie to you: it is tricky. I promise that with patience, a good sharp knife (preferably a fish knife or a 6-inch boning knife) and fish tweezers, you will be able to do it.

Yield serves 4

Number Of Ingredients 11

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Ingredients

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 large fig leaves or 12 large radicchio leaves
40 chives, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups whole fresh basil leaves
1 1/4 cups whole fresh Italian parsley leaves
1 1/4 cups whole fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the fish, leaves, and lemons
4 whole orata (dorade or sea bream), scaled and fins removed
2 lemons
Olio nuovo or finishing-quality extra-virgin olive oil
Maldon sea salt or another flaky sea salt, such as fleur de sel

Steps:

Fill a medium saucepan with water, bring it to a boil over high heat, and salt it to taste like the ocean, adding about 1 tablespoon of salt for each quart of water. Place a colander in the sink or have a wire strainer handy and fill a large bowl with ice water. If you are using fig leaves, make a triangular cut at the stem end to remove the tough portion of the stem, where it meets the leaf. Add the fig or radicchio leaves to the boiling water and cook for 1 minute, until they are slightly wilted and pliable. Drain the leaves in the colander or remove them with the strainer and plunge them into the ice water for about 1 minute, until they've cooled, to stop them from cooking. Remove the leaves from the water and place them on paper towels to drain. Pat the leaves with paper towels to dry completely.
Combine the chives, basil, parsley, and mint in a medium bowl. Drizzle with the 1/4 cup olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine the herbs and coat them with the seasonings.
Fill a large wide bowl with ice and place the fish on the ice.
Place one fish at a time on the cutting board, and if the fish still has fins, use kitchen shears to cut them off; discard the fins. Place the fish so the belly is facing you and the head is facing left (if you are right-handed; left-handers put the fish in the opposite direction). With your knife parallel to the edge of the fish, the blade facing the belly, and the palm of your free hand resting on top of the fish to hold it in place, enter the fish under the tail, and make a decisive cut from the tail to the head along the top edge of the vertebrae, cutting deep enough to expose the spine. (You want to make that cut in one fluid motion; using a 6-inch knife, the cut will utilize the length of the knife.) Turn the fish so the belly is away from you. Again, with your free hand resting on the fish to hold it in place and the knife parallel to the fish, make an incision from the head to the tail in the same fashion as the cut you made on the belly side, again making sure the incision is on the top edge of the vertebrae, deep enough to expose the spine. Using kitchen shears parallel to the counter, enter the fish through the incision and, with small cuts perpendicular to the edge of the spine, snip the bones that are connected to the fillet to detach it from the spine. Return the fish to the original position with the belly closest to you and make the same snips with the scissors to the other side of the spine. Wipe down your cutting board with a wet towel and flip the fish, so the belly is still facing you but the bottom side is now facing up, and make the same incision to the belly that you did the first time, now working from the head to the tail, but still cutting on the top edge of the vertebrae, again cutting in one decisive motion, deep enough to expose the spine. (With the first set of incisions, you were releasing one fillet of the fish from the spine, and you are now releasing the other fillet.) Wipe down the cutting board again as needed, turn the fish so the spine is facing you, and make one last cut, from the head to the tail, as you did the other three cuts. Use the kitchen shears to make the same small cuts perpendicular to the edge of the spine to snip the bones that are connected to the second fillet to detach it from the spine. You have now detached both the top and bottom fillets from the spine. Turn the fish to its original position with the head facing left (for right-handers). With your knife perpendicular to the fish and the blade facing the tail, enter the fish through the incision that you made to cut through the skin of the top fillet so your knife ends up over the tail, releasing the top fillet at the tail so that the fish can be opened up. Flip the top fillet over the head of the fish to open the fish. Use the shears to snip through the spine at the head and tail ends of the fish and lift and discard the spine; the spine will come out in one full piece; if not, look for any bones that may still be attached to the fillets and snip them with your scissors. Run the knife underneath the rib cage, nestled in the belly of the fish, to release the rib cage from the flesh and discard the rib cage. Using fish tweezers, remove and discard any visible bones from both fillets of fish. Place the fish on the ice and repeat, boning the remaining fish in the same way.
When you have boned all the fish, wipe down and dry the cutting board, and place one fish on the board, belly closest to you. Lift the top fillet of the orata to open it and expose the cavity, and stuff one quarter of the herb mixture (about 2 cups, loosely packed) inside. Close the fish over the herbs, place it back on the ice, and repeat with the remaining fish.
Lay two of the fig leaves or three of the radicchio leaves on a clean, dry cutting board. Lay one of the stuffed orata next to the leaves. Drizzle the fish with olive oil and drizzle the oil onto the leaf, making sure to get oil on the edges of the leaves, as it acts like glue, holding the leaves in place when you wrap them around the fish. Place the orata on the leaf at the edge closest to you and roll it away from you to wrap it with the leaves. Pat the leaves down to adhere and place the fish, sealed side down, in a nonreactive baking dish or on a large platter. Repeat with the remaining fish. When all the fish have been wrapped, place them, still on ice, in the refrigerator to chill for at least 10 minutes or up to several hours. You can prepare the fish up to this point up to two days in advance. Transfer them to a baking sheet or a plate, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until you are ready to use them.
Cut the lemons in half and cut 1/2 inch off the pointed ends so each lemon half has two flat surfaces. Brush both cut ends with olive oil.
Prepare a hot fire in a gas or charcoal grill or preheat a grill pan or heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat.
Remove the orata from the refrigerator and use a pastry brush to pat olive oil on both sides of each fish. (Don't brush the oil on or you might loosen the leaf.) Place the fish sealed side down on the grill or in the grill pan to cook for 7 to 8 minutes per side, turning carefully to keep the fish intact, until it is golden brown and the leaves are crisp.
While the fish are grilling, place the lemon halves with the larger, center side of the lemons facing down, on the grill or in the grill pan with the fish, for about 2 minutes, until golden brown. Turn and cook the smaller sides of the lemon for about 30 seconds just to warm them. Remove the orata to each of four plates and let them rest for 2 to 3 minutes before serving. Place one lemon half on each plate with the wider side facing up. Put bowls of olio nuevo or finishing-quality olive oil and sea salt on the side of each plate for people to personalize their fish, and serve.
Fiano di Avellino (Campania)