This elegant carp dish highlights the deep, delicate flavors of freshwater fish, enhanced with fragrant herbs and golden-fried celery for a satisfying crunch. The tender, flaky fish is perfectly seasoned, allowing the herbs to infuse every bite with freshness, while the crispy celery adds a unique twist. A rustic yet refined dish, it’s perfect for special gatherings or a hearty winter meal that celebrates tradition and rich flavors.
Ingredients
Method
- Rinse the fish inside and out and pat it dry with paper towels.
- With a sharp knife, make cuts down to the bone every 1.5 cm along both sides.
- Rub the fish inside and out, and into the cuts, with the salt and white pepper.
- Refrigerate the fish for 2 hours, or at least 30 minutes if you are short of time.
- Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
- Peel the celery root and cut it into 1 cm cubes.
- Toss the cubes with the olive oil, thyme leaves and a good pinch of salt on the baking tray.
- Line the roasting tin with a sheet of foil large enough to wrap the fish loosely and brush it with oil.
- Stuff the belly of the fish with the parsley, dill, chives, bay leaves and thyme.
- Lay the fish on the foil, squeeze the lemon juice over it and tuck the lemon slices into the gill openings.
- Drizzle the fish with the remaining oil and fold the foil over it loosely, sealing the edges.
- Bake the fish for 10 minutes, then put the tray of celery root in the oven as well.
- Bake both for 20 minutes, turning the celery once.
- Open the foil and bake for another 10–15 minutes, until the skin dries, the thickest part of the fish reads 60°C (140°F) and flakes off the bone, and the celery is golden and tender.
- Rest the fish for 5 minutes.
- Lift the fillets off the backbone with the fish slice, pulling out any loose bones, and serve with the celery root and the juices from the foil.
- Before cooking:
- Fresh fish, clean it, gut and remove the gills.
- Dry it with the serviette and rub the fish with salt and white pepper.
- Leave the marinating fish for two hours, and in the meantime you can peel the celery root, cut it into small cubes (1 centimeter), begin to fry it over low heat, and then add olive oil, salt and thyme.
- Now you can prepare herbs:
- Wash thin bunch of parsley, dill, chives and 3 leaves of fresh bay leaf.
- Stuff the fish's belly with herbs and put the carcass on a foil or a grill for roasting.
- Sprinkle the fish plentifully with lemon juice and insert pieces of lemon to the gills. Bake until done.
- Serve the hot fish with a side dish of celery.
What we changed for home
- Asp replaced with a whole carp of about 1.5 kg, or a sea bass, sea bream or striped bass of similar weight Asp is a freshwater fish sold mainly in Ukraine and Central Europe. Carp is in Eastern European and Asian fish shops; sea bass and bream are in most supermarkets and have fewer bones.
- Oven temperature and time given: 200°C (400°F) for 40–45 minutes, first covered, then open The original says only 'bake until done'. Foil keeps the fish moist; the last minutes uncovered dry and colour the skin.
- Thermometer test added: 60°C (140°F) at the thickest part A whole fish is hard to judge by eye; at 60°C (140°F) the flesh lifts cleanly off the backbone.
- Carp scored on both sides every 1.5 cm Scoring lets the heat into the thick back and cuts through carp's many small forked bones, so they soften and are less noticeable.
- Celery root roasted on a tray at 200°C (400°F) instead of fried slowly in a pan The oven is already on; 1 cm cubes brown evenly there in 30–35 minutes without standing at the stove.
- Amounts given for salt, oil and herbs The list names them without quantities.
- Fish cleaned by the fishmonger Ask for it scaled, gutted and with the gills removed; it saves the messiest part of the job.
The dish in the photograph was cooked by the restaurant for this story. Photo: Oleksandr Slyadnyev.
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