Friday is fresh fish day at Marta's shop — the general store next to Alicia's La Buena Vida bar in the village. I was there early this morning, as I usually am on Fridays. I've already written about the leek soup that came out of that visit. This baked sea bream is the other half of the story.

Marta had a beautiful whole dorada — sea bream for my UK readers — and a handful of prawns. Dorada al horno is one of the simplest and best ways to cook a whole fish in Spain: baked over a bed of potatoes, onions, and garlic, with white wine and olive oil doing most of the work. It's honest, rustic village cooking, and it takes about forty minutes from oven to table.

The prawns were already cooked, so rather than risk them turning rubbery in the oven, I warmed them separately on the hob in aceite verde with garlic, parsley, and a pinch of chilli flakes — spooned over the finished fish as a simple garnish. This baked sea bream recipe is a proper Friday lunch.

Baked Sea Bream — Ingredients

For the sea bream (serves 1)

• 1 whole dorada (sea bream), approximately 600g
• 1 large potato, sliced into 4–5mm rounds
• ½ onion, sliced into thin half-moons
• 1 small parsnip or carrot, sliced
• 3–4 garlic cloves — 1–2 sliced into the cavity, 1–2 scattered over the vegetables
• ½ lemon — slices for the cavity, a squeeze to finish
• A few sprigs of fresh parsley or thyme
• 50ml dry white wine
• Aceite verde or good extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and black pepper

For the garlic prawns

• A handful of cooked prawns
• 1–2 tbsp aceite verde
• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
• Fresh parsley, chopped
• A pinch of chilli flakes

How to Make Baked Sea Bream — The Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C. Lightly oil a small roasting tray. Layer the potato, onion, and parsnip or carrot across the base. Scatter over half the sliced garlic, season well with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and pour over the white wine. This is the bed the fish will sit on — it will soften, sweeten, and absorb everything that drips from the fish above it.
2. Pat the dorada dry. Make three diagonal slashes on each side — this helps the heat penetrate and gives the olive oil somewhere to go. Season inside and out with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with the lemon slices, herbs, and remaining garlic. Drizzle the outside generously with olive oil.
3. Lay the fish on top of the vegetables and bake for 35–40 minutes. The flesh should flake easily when tested with a fork, the eye should have turned opaque white, and the potatoes should be soft and lightly golden underneath. If the potatoes need more colour, lift the fish out and give the tray five minutes under the grill.
4. While the fish bakes, make the garlic prawns. Heat a small pan over low heat. Add the aceite verde, garlic, and chilli flakes. Let the garlic soften gently — no browning. Add the prawns and warm through for 1–2 minutes, stirring. Add the parsley, remove from the heat, and set aside.
5. To finish: squeeze fresh lemon over the fish, spoon the garlic prawns over the top or serve them alongside, add a final drizzle of olive oil, and scatter with chopped parsley. Eat straight from the tray.

A Few Notes from the Casa Adora Kitchen

The fish: A whole dorada of around 600g is a generous single portion. Ask the fishmonger to clean and scale it — Marta's fish comes ready prepared. This sea bream recipe works just as well with lubina (sea bass).

The vegetables: Potato, onion, and whatever the soup pack brings. Today it was parsnip rather than carrot — it worked well, adding a gentle sweetness that complemented the fish. Don't overthink the base. The point is a soft, flavoursome bed that catches the juices from the fish.

The prawns: Because they're already cooked, they only need warming through — two minutes on a low heat is enough. Any longer and they turn rubbery. The garlic oil they sit in is as important as the prawns themselves — spoon all of it over the fish.

The wine: Fifty millilitres of dry white wine into the vegetable base adds acidity and steam. Use something you'd drink — a vino blanco from the local cooperative is exactly right here.

The olive oil: Aceite verde from Montetucci — early-harvest, grassy, peppery — goes in at every stage. Into the vegetable base, over the fish before baking, into the prawn pan, and as a final drizzle at the table. It's not subtle and it's not meant to be.

This baked sea bream recipe is part of my Fish & Seafood collection. Wonky photos, proper fish, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef.