Sea Bass With Garlic Butter

South African Kobus Botha is taking Paris by storm. He has introduced the art of the braai to his French countrymen at his restaurant ‘My Food’, and often takes his custom-designed braais on the road to feed the masses. A former movie producer, Kobus built his own braai equipment and serves his favourite South African dishes like boerewors, peri-peri chicken, bobotie, chakalaka and malva pudding to the delighted Parisians, along with drinks like rooibos tea and homemade ginger beer. Now he has a new book out called Le Braai, which not only has a selection of stunning recipes, but has detailed instructions on how to make a proper fire, the correct cooking times for different meats and info on choosing ingredients. Le Braai is not only a collection of great recipes, but captures the larger-than-life spirit and unique style of Kobus. Here is an extract of his book:

Sea bass with garlic butter

Sea bass is the French fish most like the South African yellowtail that I used to catch while freediving at Agulhas. If you have any leftovers, it’s delicious cold, reheated, or in fishcakes.

Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients

1 whole head of garlic
1 lemon
6 tablespoons butter
Sea salt and ground black pepper
1 whole sea bass, yellowtail or Cape Salmon (± 2 kg), neither gutted nor scaled

Method

Cut the head of garlic in half through the centre and cut the lemon into thick slices. Braai the garlic and lemon briefly, to bring out the flavours. Put them into a flameproof pan with the butter, salt and black pepper, and melt the butter slowly.

To butterfly the fish, use a sharp knife to cut along the backbone, from head to tail, then open it out, keeping both sides attached. Gut the fish and remove the gills.

Then rinse it and dry with paper towels. Lie the fish flat in a hinged grid and place it, flesh-side down, over very hot coals. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the flesh is nicely browned. Spread the coals to reduce the heat. Turn the grid and cook the fish on the skin side for 10 – 15 minutes, brushing the flesh a few times with the flavoured butter.

Serve with a tomato salad and the extra garlic butter on the side.