In my eyes, serving fish whole is the best (and easiest) way to cook: presenting it to your friends or family has a celebratory feel about it. I recently had some beautiful gilt-head sea bream from a local fisherman; I cooked one for supper with a fishy version of the classic pommes boulangère, and here have done a version of the dish with monkfish. You can use any meaty fish for this, such as bass, turbot or brill.

Timings

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Serves

Six to eight

Ingredients

For the fisherman’s potatoes

2-3 large baking potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
1-2 litres fish soup or fish stock, as needed
A couple of knobs of butter

For the fish

1 monkfish, sea bream or other whole fish weighing about 1.5-1.8kg, trimmed (I removed the head from my monkfish so that it would fit in the dish)
Extra-virgin rapeseed oil, for drizzling
A few sprigs of rosemary

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6.
In a roasting or ovenproof dish – one that’s large enough to fit the fish eventually – arrange two thirds of the sliced potatoes in two layers, overlapping them as you go, then scatter over the onion and create another layer of overlapping potatoes. Cover with the fish soup or stock and put the butter on top. Bake for about an hour, basting the potatoes now and then as they are cooking.
After an hour, turn the oven up to 240C/220C fan/gas mark 8, or the hottest setting your oven will go to.
Score the fish a few times on one side with a sharp knife, then lay it on top of the potatoes. Season the scored side of the fish and drizzle over some rapeseed oil. Return to the oven for 10-15 minutes, then scatter over the rosemary and return to the oven again for a few minutes.
Test the fish by inserting a knife into the incisions; if it comes away from the bone easily, it is ready. Serve immediately, giving people some of the fish along with the potatoes, onions and juices.