Barramundi with fennel and orange, done properly

Friday arvo at the co-op in Nelson Bay and the barramundi had come off the boat that morning, skin still tight and silvery, eyes clear. That’s the fish you want for this. Barramundi with fennel and orange is one of those combinations that sounds like it was dreamed up by a food magazine, but it works because the fennel’s aniseed edge and the orange’s sweetness both do something useful to a mild, flaky fish that can otherwise disappear on the plate.

I’ve cooked versions of this in three different kitchens around the Hunter over the years, and the fundamentals never change. Get your pan properly hot, don’t crowd the fillets, and don’t drown the fish in sauce just because it looks impressive on the pass. This is a dinner for a Tuesday as much as a Sunday, it’s vegetable-forward, the protein’s lean, and it comes together in under thirty minutes once your fennel’s sliced.

Why barramundi with fennel and orange works so well together

Fennel raw is sharp and a bit medicinal. Cooked down slowly in a bit of olive oil it turns sweet and almost silky, which is exactly the texture you want sitting under a piece of fish. Orange brings acid and sugar in one hit, so you don’t need much else, maybe a knob of butter at the end to bring it together. The fish itself barely needs seasoning beyond salt, pepper and a hot pan doing its job. CSIRO’s research on fish consumption has long pointed to the benefits of getting oily and white fish onto the table regularly, and barramundi, being farmed extensively along the Australian east coast, is one of the more sustainable and accessible options going around.

Ingredients

• 4 barramundi fillets (about 150g each), skin on, pin-boned
• 2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and thinly sliced, fronds reserved
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 oranges (zest and juice of one, the other peeled and segmented)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed in a mortar
• 20g butter
• 2 tbsp white wine or a splash of dry vermouth
• Sea salt flakes and cracked black pepper
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• Lemon wedge, to finish

Method

1. Pat the barramundi fillets dry with paper towel. This matters more than people think, wet skin never crisps up, it just steams.
2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a wide frying pan over medium heat. Add the fennel, red onion and crushed fennel seeds with a good pinch of salt. Cook slowly for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and starting to caramelise at the edges. Don’t rush this bit.
3. Add the orange zest and juice to the fennel, bump the heat up for a minute to reduce it slightly, then tip the mixture onto a plate and cover loosely to keep warm.
4. Wipe the pan out and return it to high heat. Get your pan properly hot, you should see a faint shimmer off the surface before the oil goes in.
5. Add the remaining olive oil, then lay the barramundi fillets in skin-side down. Press each one gently with a fish slice for the first 20 seconds so the skin doesn’t curl.
6. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the skin is deeply golden and crisp, then flip and cook a further 1-2 minutes, depending on thickness. The fish should just flake when pressed.
7. Remove the fillets to a warm plate. Add the wine to the hot pan, let it bubble for 20 seconds, then swirl in the butter until you’ve got a glossy, loose sauce. Taste as you go, adjust the salt.
8. Spoon the fennel and orange mixture onto plates, sit the fish skin-side up on top, spoon over the pan sauce, and scatter with orange segments, parsley and reserved fennel fronds.

Serves 4. Prep about 15 minutes, cook around 25.

What to put alongside it

I like this with nothing more than a pile of steamed baby chat potatoes and maybe a spoon of Dijon mustard on the side, because the fennel and orange are already doing the heavy lifting. If you want to lean further into the vegetable side of things, our shaved fennel and orange salad with toasted almonds is basically the raw cousin of this dish and the two sit well on the same table if you’re feeding a crowd. For something with a bit more texture, a scoop of the roasted vegetable and freekeh salad does the job without competing.

A variation worth trying

Swap the barramundi for a whole small snapper if your fishmonger’s got one, and cook the fennel mixture as a bed to roast the whole fish on top of in the oven instead, about 220C for 20 minutes depending on size. If you’d rather keep things simpler and skip the pan-searing altogether, our BBQ whole fish with coriander recipe uses similar logic, aromatics doing the work while the fish stays plain and honest.

Where this sits in a balanced week

This is exactly the kind of dinner I mean when people ask what a genuinely balanced plate looks like without turning it into a diet. Lean protein, a properly cooked vegetable that isn’t an afterthought, some healthy fat from the olive oil and butter, done. If you want the longer version of that thinking, have a read of how to build a more balanced plate without dieting, it covers the same territory I bang on about in the kitchen most days. The Australian Dietary Guidelines, via eatforhealth.gov.au, still recommend fish two to three times a week for most adults, and frankly most households I know fall well short of that, mine included some weeks.

One honest opinion about the fennel seeds

I’ll say this and some readers won’t like it: skipping the fennel seed toasting step because you’re in a hurry doesn’t work. I’ve tried it both ways enough times to know the difference isn’t subtle, the seeds add a background warmth that raw fennel alone can’t manage, and a mortar and pestle takes about ninety seconds. Don’t muck about with the shortcut version and then wonder why the dish tastes a bit flat. If you’re chasing more heart-healthy habits generally, our piece on 7 tips for a healthy heart is worth a look too, oily fish gets a mention for good reason.

Last thing. Buy your barramundi from someone who can tell you where it came from, whether that’s a co-op, a proper fishmonger or a market stall you trust. The difference in skin quality and freshness shows up the second it hits the pan, and no amount of orange and fennel will fix a tired fillet.

— Dave Forsythe, Golden Door Living kitchen