Ingredients

• Cooking Spray
• 2 – 1 1/2 lbs whole branzino, scaled and gutted head removed (ask the fish counter to do this for you. And if you like a companion in the kitchen … you can leave the heads on.)
• Salt and pepper
• 2 lemons zested and thinly sliced
• 2 bulbs fennel, fronds chopped and bulb cut, cored and thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves chopped
• 1/2 cup dry white wine

Instructions

1. Place oven rack on the lower third of the oven.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
3. Lay a piece of foil on the baking sheet
4. Spray the foil with vegetable cooking spray – I used olive oil
5. Lay the fish on the foil and cut two to three diagonal slits on each side of each fish. (Don’t cut through)
6. Season the cavity with salt and pepper
7. In a small bowl, mix together the zest, the fennel fronds and thyme
8. Divide the mixture in half and place in the cavities
9. Stuff the fish with the lemon and fennel slices, reserving four lemon slices for the top
10. Scatter the remaining fennel around the fish
11. Pour the wine over the fish and arrange the lemons on top
12. Lay another piece of foil over the top and crimp the bottom and top together to form a packet
13. roast the fish for 30 minutes, until the flesh is flaky and cooked through
14. Let it rest for 5 minutes
15. Be careful as you remove the filets from the bones. If you do it carefully you can get the fillet off with a sharp knife
16. if you don’t have the heads on you can remove the back bone leaving the other fillets
17. Enjoy!