Baked sea bass with lemongrass and ginger

Cleaning the sea bass – 15 minutes

Remove the scales from the sea bass. Avoid a dirty work surface by cleaning the sea bass in the sink.

Be careful when cleaning this fish as it has sharp fins which can easily cut your fingers. Use the back of a chef's knife to scrape against the scales.

For the best grip, hold the fish by the tail with a tea towel. Clean the sea bass under cold, running water and carefully check that all the scales have been removed.

Cut the sea bass lengthwise and remove the innards. Clean the fish, again, under cold, running water. Pat the fish dry with a kitchen towel.

Preparation – 5 minutes

Blitz the lemongrass, olive oil, fresh ginger, red chilli, garlic and shallot until a coarse mixture forms. Use the pulse setting of the blender 2 or 3 times.

Cut the fish, crosswise, through the skin 4 or 5 times. Cover the fish with the paste using your hands. Squeeze the juice of 1 lime over the fish to lift the flavours.

Cut the second lime into wedges and add 2 wedges per fish. Preheat the oven to a temperature of 180 degrees Celsius. Halve each lime leaf and press the leaves into the fish.

Wrap both fish loosely with aluminium foil.

Finishing the baked sea bass with lemongrass and ginger – 25 minutes

Bake the sea bass in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove the cooked fish from the oven and let it cool (wrapped) for at least 5 minutes.

You can also cook these wrapped sea bass parcels on the barbecue. You can also bake the sea bass up to 6 hours before you plan to serve it, and store it in the refrigerator (but leave it wrapped)

Remove the lemongrass, if you like, before serving. Enjoy your meal!