Sea bass and king prawns al cartoccio with herbs and green pepper

This morning, my fishmonger had a great surprise for me: extra fresh wild sea bass (In Italian spigola or branzino).

Finding wild sea bass and sea bream is not that easy, most people buy farmed fish which is definitely less expensive, but the taste of wild sea bass is just at a different level: a concentrate, intense, yet delicate, taste of the sea.

"Sapi ri mari" ( it tastes like the sea), my grandfather Giovanni always said when he was happy with the fish we had prepared for him. So perhaps, as he suggested, buy it once, but go for the top quality option.

Today, I made it "al cartoccio", just to make sure all the great juices and smells would not disappear in the oven.
After cleaning and washing the sea bass, I stuffed it with lemon slices, fresh herbs (parsley, mint, thyme, lemon thyme) and king prawns.

Added little salt and green pepper, extra virgin olive oil and rosemary, closed the parcel and baked at medium heat for 25/30 minutes.

I wish I could convey via the blog the amazing smell of the steam that came out as soon as I opened the parcel. But I guess, food bloggers just need to wait until technology finds a way to blog smells as well;)!
I served it with simple boiled potatoes, patate alle erbe, with top quality Monti Iblei extra virgin olive oil and herbs.

The best compliment came from my mother, just like her dad, as soon as she tasted it she said: "mhhhhhh, Sapi ri mari!"