Roasting fish is easy and helps keep it moist, tender, and flaky. On Italy’s many coasts, it’s popular to cook fish whole—including tail and head, which is considered a delicacy for many types of fish. I can live without the heads, but I do like to stuff the fish for an added burst of flavor and aroma.

　　

Ingredients

4 main-course servings

　　2 tablespoons olive oil

　　1 whole red snapper (about 3 pounds), cleaned and scaled

　　1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

　　1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

　　1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges

　　1/2 small onion, coarsely chopped

　　1/2 fennel bulb, coarsely chopped

　　6 sprigs of fresh rosemary

　　2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

　　

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large, heavy baking sheet with foil. Coat the foil with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Place the fish atop the foil, and sprinkle the fish cavity with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Squeeze the juice from 4 lemon wedges inside the fish cavity and then place those wedges in the cavity. Fill the cavity with the onion, fennel, rosemary, and garlic. Rub the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil over the fish and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. (The fish can be prepared up to this point 6 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Uncover before baking.)

　　

Step 2

Roast in the oven until the fish is just cooked through at the bone, about 40 minutes. Pull back the skin from atop the fish. Using a sharp knife, separate the two fillets from the backbone. Using a metal spatula, transfer the fillets to plates. Lift the fish backbone from the bottom fillets (the backbone and head should come off together easily), and discard. Using the spatula, transfer the remaining two fillets to plates. Sprinkle the fish with more salt and pepper to taste, and serve with the remaining lemon wedges.

　　Reprinted with permission from Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes by Martha Stewart Living Magazine. Copyright © 2005 by Giada De Laurentiis. Published by Crown Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.Giada De Laurentiis is the star of Food Network's Everyday Italian and Behind the Bash. She attended the Cordon Bleu in Paris, and then worked in a variety of Los Angeles restaurants, including Wolfgang Puck's Spago, before starting her own catering and private-chef company, GDL Foods. The granddaughter of movie producer Dino De Laurentiis, Giada was born in Rome and grew up in Los Angeles, where she now lives.