Whole baked fish provencale with fennel, potato and tomato

Check the fish is scaled, gutted and the gills removed - gills give the preparation a taste. Cut off all the fins, carefully, including the sharp defensive spines, which are bone. Keep the head; cut the tail only if the dish is too small.

Cut the potatoes into small quarters, slice the onion thinly and cube the tomatoes.

Trim the dry stems and the dry untidy base off the fennel, discard the poor outer leaves, halve it and thinly slice the good part. Rinse off any dirt.

Mingle all the garnish together - potatoes, fennel, onions, tomatoes, herbs, bay leaf, salt and pepper - and finish with a good three or four tablespoons of olive oil, mixing by hand.

Turn it all into a large baking dish, add garlic cut, pressed or bashed as you like, and mix.

Add about a small glass of water, 100 to 150 ml maximum, and put it in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes to pre-cook the garnish.

Score the fish with a knife to help it cook.

Season inside the fish generously with mixed salt and peppercorns, then fill the cavity with the reserved onion and fennel trim, the fennel fronds, parsley, one or two bay leaves and a little lemon or lime.

Cover the stuffed fish and leave it in the fridge to infuse while the garnish cooks.

After 40 to 45 minutes the water is gone. Stir the garnish, lay the fish on top and add a bit of olive oil.

Add a little wine, about 100 or even 150 ml, or water - he uses water.

Bake the fish 30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. The liquid will be fully reduced.

Check it is cooked: the flesh at the collar detaches on its own, and the top fins pull out very easily.

Lift the whole fish off the garnish onto a separate plate before breaking it up, or bones end up through the dish.

Pull the skin back to expose the flesh and discard it, take off the fish bones first, then slice down the middle and delicately scoop the flesh off each side, working to the tail and avoiding the bones. Reserve the flesh and serve with the garnish.