Rodaballo al Horno Gallego

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Low-sided metal or glazed earthenware roasting tray, about 40 by 30cm
• •Sharp chef's knife or mandoline with hand guard
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Wide fish slice or thin metal spatula
• •Baking parchment and foil

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the turbot

   Heat the oven to 200°C, or 190°C with a fan. Check that the turbot fits flat in a 40 by 30cm roasting tray. Pat it dry, especially inside the small gut cavity, and leave the dark and pale skins intact. Season both sides with 6g of the salt and all the black pepper, then leave it at cool room temperature while the potatoes begin cooking.

   Ask the fishmonger to gut the turbot, remove the gills, and trim only the long fins. Don't have the skin removed. Its gelatin protects the flesh and enriches the juices in the tray.
2. 2

   Build the potato bed

   Spread the potatoes and onions across the tray in overlapping layers. Add the bay leaf, 50ml of the olive oil, 8g salt, 100ml wine, and all the fish stock. Turn everything together once, level it, and cover the tray tightly with baking parchment and foil. Bake for 25 minutes, then uncover, turn the potatoes carefully, and bake for another 10 minutes. A knife should enter a potato slice with slight resistance.

   The potatoes must get their head start. Put the fish on raw potatoes and the turbot will be dry before the potatoes are tender. That is the one timing that decides this dish.
3. 3

   Mix the garlic dressing

   Stir the chopped garlic and 15g of the parsley with the remaining 40ml olive oil. Spoon half this mixture through the hot potatoes. Keep the other half for the fish.

4. 4

   Set fish over potatoes

   Lay the turbot pale side down and dark side up over the potatoes. Rub the reserved garlic and parsley oil across its skin. Pour the remaining 100ml wine around the fish, not over it, so the seasoned oil stays on the surface. Return the uncovered tray to the oven.

5. 5

   Roast until just done

   Roast for 25 to 30 minutes. Begin checking at 23 minutes if the fish is thinner or weighs less than 1.8kg. It is ready when the thickest flesh beside the backbone is opaque, yields in large moist flakes, and reads 60°C on an instant-read thermometer. A small knife inserted beside the backbone should meet little resistance, and the flesh should lift cleanly from the bone.

   Don't wait for the flesh to become hard and chalk-white. The temperature will rise a little while the whole fish rests, bringing it close to 63°C without drying it.
6. 6

   Rest and serve

   Rest the turbot in its tray for 8 to 10 minutes. Spoon the wine and fish juices over the potatoes, discard the bay leaf, and scatter over the remaining 5g parsley. Cut along the centre line of the dark skin, lift away the two upper fillets, remove the backbone, then serve the two lower fillets. Give each plate potatoes, onion, and plenty of the gelatin-rich juices. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.

Chef Tips

• •Choose the turbot before you choose the wine. Look for clear, full eyes, red gills, moist skin, firm flesh, and a clean smell of the sea. Wild turbot is firmer and deeper in flavor; a fresh farmed fish still makes a good tray and is easier to find.
• •A whole brill, coruxo, is the proper substitute. It is leaner and often smaller, so weigh it and begin checking early. For a 1.2kg brill, allow about 18 to 22 minutes over the already softened potatoes.
• •Use a dry Galician white you would drink. Albariño brings brisk acidity, Godello a little more body, and Ribeiro works very well without making a ceremony of it. Sweet or heavily oaked wine muddies the clean fish juices.
• •The pan matters. The turbot must lie flat and the potatoes should form no more than two or three thin layers. Crowd them into a small deep dish and they simmer unevenly rather than softening together.
• •Turbot has four fillets, two above the backbone and two below. Serve the upper pair first, lift away the backbone in one piece, then take the lower pair. Work from head toward tail and the flesh comes away more cleanly.
• •Refrigerate leftovers within two hours, covered, for up to two days. Reheat the potatoes with a spoonful of water, but serve leftover fish at room temperature or warm it very gently. A hard second bake makes it fibrous.

Advance Preparation

• •Have the fish cleaned by the fishmonger up to one day ahead. Keep it in the coldest part of the refrigerator on a tray, loosely covered, then pat it dry before seasoning.
• •Slice the onions and chop the garlic and parsley up to 6 hours ahead; refrigerate them separately in covered containers.
• •The potato and onion bed can be baked through its first 35 minutes up to 45 minutes before the meal. Keep it in the tray at room temperature, then add the fish and complete the roasting just before serving.
• •Do not roast the turbot ahead. It is forgiving for its resting time, but a cooked whole fish left waiting for an hour loses the moist texture that made it worth buying.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)