Roasted Branzino with Caper Butter

Name: Roasted Branzino with Caper Butter
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 1 stick unsalted butter, softened; 1 tablespoon finely chopped capers; 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice; 1 tablespoon chopped parsley; Salt; Four 1- to 1 1/4-pound whole branzino or striped bass, scaled and gutted; 1 lemon, sliced into 8 rounds; 4 large rosemary sprigs; 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1,329 Ratings
9 Reviews

"It's almost impossible to end up with dry, overcooked fish when cooking it whole," says chef Steve Corry about the star of this recipe. "The bones protect against extreme heat, plus they add flavor and moisture." Here, Corry pan-roasts whole branzino that's stuffed with lemon and rosemary. He makes an easy compound butter — which melts on the fish to become a sauce — with wild Tunisian mountain capers, although any caper will work.

By Steve Corry

March 2008

Gallery

Credit: Photo by Antonis Achilleos / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Thom Driver

Recipe Summary

active:

25 mins

total:

40 mins

Yield:

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon finely chopped capers
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Salt
Four 1- to 1 1/4-pound whole branzino or striped bass, scaled and gutted
1 lemon, sliced into 8 rounds
4 large rosemary sprigs
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Step 1
Preheat oven to 425°F. In a medium bowl, mix butter with capers, lemon juice and parsley and season with salt. Hold at room temperature.

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Step 2
Season branzino cavities with salt and stuff 2 lemon rounds and 1 rosemary sprig in each. Season fish with salt.
Step 3
In a large, nonstick, ovenproof skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil until shimmering. Add 2 branzino and cook over high heat until branzino skin is browned and crisp, about 3 minutes per side.
Step 4
Transfer fish to a large rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and 2 stuffed branzino. Roast fish in the oven for about 10 minutes, until just cooked through.
Step 5
Serve whole or filleted, passing caper butter at the table.

Suggested Pairing

When prepared simply, mild branzino can be overwhelmed by big, New World white wines, but it pairs well with Vermentino, the crisp Italian white.

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Rick Geo

08/08/2022

You are a bunch of idiots! Looking for grilled branzino with scordalia you are redirected to Roasted branzino with caper butter! You suck!!!

Food & Wine Member

07/05/2022

Excellent!! I no longer eat Tilapia (due to what they feed them) and this fish recipe is an excellent (even superior) substitute!!
I did not use capers, and ver very little rosemary and still the fish was amazing!!
Doing the recipe again tonight!!

susanw430

07/01/2020

I made this recipe as suggested. It was moist and spectacular.

janey625

01/10/2020

I followed the recipe and tried to brown the fish and then turn it to its other side after 3 minutes and the skin stuck to the pan and the some of the flesh came off. I don't think the delicate fish should be turned over at all nor transferred to the baking pan. Next time, I will avoid these two steps and just transfer the oven-safe skillet to the oven. I will comment when the fish is done after the 10 minute cooking time.

kgsmom3

09/09/2019

I sautéed in a pan and then into the oven to finish in same pan. I also added a little panko breadcrumbs to caper butter and put some inside the fish before cooking so it really melted into the fish and then on top when finished. This was so good my hubby has been talking about it for days. Now if I could only learn to debone it so it looked as good as it tasted :-)

Rainie Becker

07/29/2018

I didn't use the Branzino recipe, but I did make the caper butter and it was fantastic! A great accompaniment to the fish! My husband loved it.

Gloria Arciniegas

06/26/2018

Is it possible to cool this on a cast iron and transfer it straight to the oven in the cast iron skillet?

realspear

06/22/2017

While the flavors in the compound butter are good, this recipe has a problem. The cooking time is way too long. Cut the time in the oven to five minutes and the fish is perfect, otherwise, it's a soft mess. Also, it's unclear why it calls for an ovenproof skillet when the fish is transferred to a baking dish for the oven. Somewhere there's a disconnect. I used thyme instead of rosemary since it's growing in my garden, otherwise followed it pretty much exactly.

Monique Daniels

02/24/2017

So good!! My daughter was scraping the bones.

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All Reviews for Roasted Branzino with Caper Butter

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Roasted Branzino with Caper Butter

Gallery

Recipe Summary

Ingredients

Directions

Suggested Pairing

Reviews (9)

All Reviews for Roasted Branzino with Caper Butter