Branzino

In our trips this year to Monterosso al Mare in Cinque Terre, we  observed the Ligurian cooking class at Hotel Villa Steno and learned to make an incredible branzino (and also fabulous pesto).  We bring our new skills home and purchase filleted branzino at Pike Place Market while we are in Seattle, carry them home, and prepare a great dish with the branzino, roasted potatoes, and trofie with pesto.

We start with branzino fillets in a pan with olive oil and garlic cloves.  We then prepare a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, and oregano which we pour over the fish and then cover with olives and capers.  We add rosemary and bay leaves and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Branzino fillets

Ready for the oven

For the potatoes, we thin slice Yukon Gold potatoes with a mandoline food slicer, layer them in a sheet pan, and cover them with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  We pop them in the oven with the branzino and prepare trofie with pesto using trofie pasta and the pesto sauce that we made from our basil plants (and grated Parmesan cheese, grated Romano cheese, toasted pine nuts, salt, and olive oil),

Potatoes ready for baking

Trofie mixed with the pesto

Dinner is ready!

This is a simple, but fabulous meal and we'll enjoy it many times.