Chili and lemon grilled/oven baked bass

I have recently rediscovered my passion for good food and cooking, so much so that I'm thinking of joining a cookery class to improve.
I love fish and seafood, and also the mixture of hot and sweet/zesty, and two days ago, I went and bought a bass, (sea bass? not sure, how many kinds of bass are there?)
My on the spot recipe I came up with that day (for one fish):
I used a degutted and descaled whole bass, but was very bony. So deboned fillet might be an option.

1 Bass
1 Garlic clove, crushed and very finely chopped
1 Small or half a large lemon
2 or 3 Spoonfuls of chopped parsley
Some finely chopped fresh hot chilli or dried (amount to taste I guess, could also go well with sweet chilli instead, I shall try that next time)
Olive oil
Grinded Black peppercorns
A pinch of sea salt

In a small bowl mix a spoon or two of olive oil, squeezed half a lemon juice (I also added grated zest from the skin), and add the chopped garlic, chilli and parsley.
With the the whole bass, make sure its degutted and cut through the middle up until the spine (so that you can open it up)
WIth a spoon spread the mixture inside the fish so that it covers nicely the whole length.
Close the poor stuffed fish, and sprinkle the top with a bit of olive oil, then a pinch of salt and the black pepper.
That's it really.

Now the best would be to grill it on an open barbeque like our ancestors did. But living in a big city, I don't have that luxury, you can make due with the lowly oven, mine has a grill setting that compares to heating a metal bar with a candle and then trying to cook something with it.
Anyways, make sure you preheat it on a high heat for a good 5 minutes before putting the fish in.
10 to 15 minutes should do it, or until the skin begins to get nice and crispy.
Depending on individual ovens.

Mine came out cooked almost perfectly, a bit crispy on the outside and nice and juicy flesh on the inside.
And it was in all honesty the best thing I had in ages.
I accompanied it with some tomato salad, which was also amazing, and some grilled veggies (not so amazing, dont go well with the fish flavours)
Some suggestions are highly appreciated.
Now, who's got Gordon Ramsay's number?

I love bass, it has a sweet hint to the meat. Crappy is even better. Bluegills are about the same as bass. Lake superior perch are great also.

That fish in the picture doesn't look like the bass we have around here though, kinda skinny. Is that a salt water bass?

S&F

a reply to: rickymouse

Not sure, my current location is the UK, It's a british bass
But it comes from a market stall that gets its fish from fishermen in the early morning, so I would think it's saltwater.
And yes bass has a great taste, It's delicious even grilled on it's own with no added flavours to it.

There is a difference in the gill structure of salt water fish and freshwater fish but the salt content is about the same in the fish I guess. The saltwater gills filter out the salt and the freshwater gills absorb salt. I guess saltwater fish have more iodine in them though, although the fish around here tend to be more plentiful around the shores near roads. Probably because of the iodine in the salt that they salt the road with.

A little off topic, but that could account for the differences in the looks of the gills.

a reply to: rickymouse

I think what i cooked is this.
And according to this, bass is a name given to many different types of fish, from different families even, depending on the geographical location.
Cool, I just learned that.

a reply to: athousandlives

Hey, thanks a lot for the recipe! This is one that sounds awesome. I'd think you could substitute most any fish though probably, ya think?

Im anxious to try this one out! Thanks again...MS

a reply to: mysterioustranger

Hey mysterioustranger, yeah you could substitute with any similar type fish I guess.
It's a pretty basic recipe, the lemon and parsley are quite common in grilled fish, I just found the added heat from the chilli and garlic gave it another dimension of flavor.
Cooking is an art, and as such, ingredients are like different colors and brush strokes on a Monet painting.
Wow just came up with that one, lol

a reply to: athousandlives

It's a fish and fish taste great. My grandaughter caught a big hornyhead minnow one day and we cooked it up. It taste like egg.....it was full of eggs when we cleaned it. For a fish to taste like egg is strange but this is a true event, both of us tasted it at the same time and both blurted out it tasted like egg at the same time. That fish would have gone good with bacon.