Salt Encrusted Sea Bass

Here is a very simple technique for roasting whole fish or even poultry. The whole fish is enclosed in a salt crust then roasted; it produces incredibal flavor and moisture. For the fish I used a Mediterranean variety of sea bass called Branzini, which is an ocean-going bass about the size of a large river trout. It's scaled and gutted with parsley and lemon slices placed in the cavity. I wanted to experiment with using different salts to see if it would produce different results, so for one fish I used kosher salt and the other fish I used rock salt. The salt was moisted with egg whites and placed under and over the whole fishes to form a thick crust. Into a hot oven for about ten minutes and it's done with a beautiful golden crust. Allowed to cool slightly, the crust is cracked and removed. The fish will be very moist with a amazing citrus scent. There was not any difference in the use of one salt or the other and if you think it would be too salty? It wasn't. I served the fillet with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.