A few months ago I saw an article in Fine Cooking and thought…my granddaughter would LOVE this! She loves and knows everything about dinosaurs, and one of the attractions is all the skeletons she sees at the Natural History Museum in LA. So, to use a whole fish and see the skeleton would be a hit, I knew. And she likes fish–in the little aquarium in her room and on her dinner plate.

I was right. When I went to visit I showed her the plan and she was soooo ready to do it ‘right now!’ I told her it would take a bit of planning and shopping. So on the right day her daddy, brother, and I picked her up from school and headed to Whole Foods. She made a bee-line to the fresh fish case and we picked out a Branzino. The fish monger asked if we wanted it cleaned. She thought it would be cool to pull the guts out…Grandma did not! So we had the kindly man behind the counter do it, as she watched.

Picking the herbs and a lemon in the backyard (love California in January!!!) we prepared the fish for roasting. We followed the Fine Cooking recipe, but substituted rosemary and thyme for the dill and in the sauce we used parsley instead of dill.
Since they have a wonderful video and complete instructions on their site, just go there to give it a try. The only thing I would suggest is to line the baking sheet with foil or parchment to ease the clean-up.

The fish was perfectly cooked and everyone enjoyed it except, perhaps the cat…she doesn’t eat anything outside her crunchy dry food. But, I won the heart of my granddaughter for finding a craft project, ichthyology lesson, and dinner …all in one!

The best part...removing the skeleton!!