There is a hotel in the northwest of Iceland called Hotel Budir. It is one of the most remote hotels I have ever visited and has its own fishing dock. The story goes that the owner of the hotel always asks you if you have a dream upon arrival – you can only stay if you have a dream. We stopped here for the night and made this redfish in the hotel kitchen. It tasted like a dream.
Ingredients
- 1 large redfish weighing about 1–1.5 kg/2 lb 4 oz–3
- lb 5 oz (or 4 small fish weighing about 300–350
- g/10–12 oz each), cleaned
- 4 garlic cloves, skin left on and bruised
- 4 sprigs of thyme (8 small sprigs if using individual fish)
- 2 sprigs of rosemary (8 small sprigs if using individual fish)
- ½ lime, sliced
- splash of lime juice
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
- Cut finger-length slashes at 2-cm/¾-inch intervals in the skin on both sides of the redfish. Mix half of the garlic, thyme and rosemary with 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to infuse. Season the inside of the fish with salt and pepper. Remove the garlic and herbs from the oil and tuck into the cavity. Add the lime slices and spoon in a little of the infused olive oil.
- Brush olive oil over the outside of the fish and into the slashes in the skin. Season again. Grease a large baking sheet with olive oil and lift the fish into it. Finely chop the remaining thyme and rosemary and scatter over the fish. Tuck the remaining garlic cloves over and around the fish.
- Bake a large fish in the oven for 30–35 minutes, or 20–30 minutes for smaller fish. To check the fish is cooked, press a spoon into the middle of the flesh and if the flesh comes away easily from the backbone, it is ready.
- Serve the fish drizzled with a little extra olive oil and a splash of lime. Grind over some salt and pepper.
