Salt Encrusted Snapper
By: Ana
Published: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 7:02pm

Ingredients




2 pounds Yellowtail snapper
13 ounces salt
3 egg whites
1 shallot
handful of thyme
handful of flat leaf parsley
1 lemon
olive oil

Preparation

1 Clean fish: gut the fish (make a slice through the belly area and remove all of the organs through there), snip off the sharp fins (e.g. on the very top of the fish), and scrape off all of the scales. 2 Preheat your oven to 350°F. 3 Thinly slice a lemon and coarsely chop up the shallot and herbs. 4 In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Once you’ve reached this stage, gradually pour in the salt. The egg whites will thicken up and form a gritty batter/paste. 5 Place all stuffing into fish, packing as much of it in there as you can fit. Rub the entire fish with olive oil and do your best to seal the fish shut. 6 Once the fish is stuffed and oiled, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and make something of a bed out of some of the salt/egg paste so that you cover the entire underside of the fish. Lay the fish on it and pack the salt paste all over. Don’t leave it crumbly–really sculpt it and do your best to cover every bit of the fish. 7 Transfer this to the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes. 8 Crack crust open with mallet.You should be able to remove it in large chunks (try not to smash it into a fine powder) and discard it. 9 If the skin doesn’t peel right off with the crust, it should nonetheless be quite easy for you to remove (in one piece if you’re really lucky), so peel it off and toss it.