Whole Red Snapper (or any fish really), butterflied

Fresh Thyme

Dried Oregano

1 Punnet Rosa Tomatoes

4 Medium Lemons

Dark Soy Sauce

White Wine

Crushed Garlic

Chopped Chilli

Salt & Pepper

Get your monger to clean and butterfly the fish, leaving a nice accessible cavity.

Score the skin on either side slightly, just to soak up the flavours.

Prep a roasting dish with a little olive oil, place the fish snugly inside and coat them breezily.

Fill the cavities with sprigs of thyme & sliced lemon.

Fill gaps between the fish with more thyme - be generous.

Mix the juice of 2 lemons (try catch the seeds), 1t of chilli (or to taste), 1t of crushed garlic, a generous dash of oregano and 1T of soy sauce, and roughly half a punnet of quartered Rosa tomatoes, and finally a helping of whatever white wine you're drinking whilst you're doing this.

Mix together in a jug. Pour half of this over the fish, then turn and pour over the rest.

Quarter the balance of the tomatoes, and toss over at random. Call it 'rustic'.

Sprinkle a little salt & pepper wantonly.

Bake covered for +/-15min in a preheated oven at 180C.

Take off the foil, then let grill for another +/-10min.

The fish is done when the flesh flakes easily (test with a fork from the thickest part) with no opaque bits.

Serve immediately.

For this lot, I served with a quick sweet potato (it's lower GI and way more interesting) & cauliflower mash.

Steaming rather than boiling retains the colour and flavour better.

Gooi in some butter, a little milk (just a little), salt & pepper - then mash.

Ta dah.

It's simple. That's the beauty of it.

When cooking whole fish, the big question is whether to go all French Revolution on it, or not. Some people are squeamish, and would prefer their food had no face. Others ruthlessly go first for the cheeks. It's your call. For me, it depends mostly on how big the roasting dish is...

*Vienna Brocade Tablerunner from linens to love. Available nationwide.