European sea bass (aka Branzino) is light, flaky and mildly sweet. It’s cooking time is fairly quick, which makes it great for a easy mid-week meal. Learn how to make this delicious fish using simple ingredients!
If you’ve never had Branzino, you’re missing out! This white fish is native to the western European seas, but can be found at most grocery stores. I even found it flash-frozen at Trader Joe’s! Now let’s get cooking…
Ingredients (for a party of 2):
1lb of cleaned Branzino, cut in half (or 2 Branzino fish, cut in half)
2 tbsp of parsley
2 tbsp of minced garlic (or 4-5 cloves)
1 tbsp of butter
1/2 squeezed lemon
1 tsp of ground pepper
6-8 fresh basil leaves
About 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
Dash of salt
To start, mince your garlic, basil and parsley together. Once minced, mix them together. This will infuse the flavors of all 3 ingredients.
Take your branzino and season with pepper and salt. Set aside.
Grab a medium-sized frying pan and cover with olive oil. Add your butter and turn your heat to a medium-low setting. Once the butter has melted, add the combination of garlic, basil and parsley. Let the garlic cook until fragrant and golden brown.
Next, add your branzino to the pan. Cook for approximately 5 minutes on each side. When you flip, squeeze fresh lemon juice on both sides.
Branzino cooks very quickly. If you think 5 minutes is too long for one of your sides, feel free to shorten.
Remove from the pan and squeeze more lemon juice on top. Serve hot with fried rice or baked potatoes for a quick and easy meal!
Let me know how your branzino tastes in the comments!
