Main · Spring / Summer
Dorada à la plancha with charred lemon and olive oil
Whole fish, crisp skin, nothing else. Costa del Sol on a plate.
There's a chiringuito in Estepona. A wooden shack on the sand that's been there since before I was born. Where an old guy called Pepe runs the plancha. He doesn't speak much English, doesn't need to. He grills two things really, with a third sometimes: dorada, lubina, and on Fridays sardines so fresh they still look surprised.
First time I tried to help him I reached for a fish on the plancha after maybe two minutes and got my hand slapped. 'No la toques,' he said. Don't touch it. The fish releases itself when it's ready. Touch it before and you tear the skin and lose what you came for in the first place. That was the whole lesson.
I make this at home now exactly the way Pepe makes it on the beach. Hot iron, oil, salt, fish, wait. Charred lemon next to it because the acid wakes the fat up. A finger-pour of green olive oil to finish, because Andalusia made me believe in olive oil the way Italians believe in olive oil. Nothing else.
- Total time
- 20 min
- Serves
- 2 people
- Difficulty
- 2 / 5
- Pair with
- Albariño from Rías Baixas. Cold. Big glass.
Ingredients
- 1 wholedorada (sea bream) of about 600-700 g, scaled and gutted
- as neededolive oil + coarse sea salt + black pepper
- 1lemon, halved
- 2 sprigsthyme
To finish
- drizzlefruity extra-virgin olive oil + fleur de sel + flat parsley
Method
- 1
Heat a plancha or cast-iron plate to blue-smoke hot. No plancha? A hot cast-iron pan works.
- 2
Pat the fish dry. Salt the cavity, slip in the thyme. Rub the outside with olive oil and salt it hard.
- 3
Fish on the iron. Don't touch it for 4-5 minutes. The skin must grip and release itself.
- 4
Place lemon halves cut-side down on the iron. Let them caramelise.
- 5
Flip the fish with two spatulas. Another 3-4 minutes. Core temperature 55 °C.
- 6
Onto a long platter. Pour green olive oil over, fleur de sel, the grilled lemon alongside, parsley.
