Spigola Alla Vernaccia is an incredibly simple yet tasty dish you will often find served at restaurants and trattorie in Cagliari and southern Sardinia.
The dish is typically made in the oven, but you can also make it in a pan if you want. This is actually one of my favorite Sardinian seafood recipes– just like my spaghetti Vongole e Bottarga.
Recipe Quick Look
- 👌 Difficulty: Medium.
- ⏱ Prep Time: 10 minutes.
- 🔥 Cook Time: 40 minutes.
- 🥣 Main Ingredients: Sea bass, black olives, garlic, flour, Vernaccia wine, extra virgin olive oil, parsley.
- 🍪 Servings: 4 servings.
- 🍂 Flavor Profile: Salty and savory.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- The dish is delicate, but incredibly flavorful at the same time.
- It’s classy enough to make and serve when you’re hosting some guests, and yet, simple enough to make as a weeknight dinner.
Recipe Ingredients
- Seabass: You’ll need a whole seabass.
- Vernaccia wine: This one’s a local Sardinian wine that has an incredible flavor.
- Flour: To coat the fish and give it that nice bit of texture.
- Olives: For that delicious, salty, briny flavor.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic cloves, to stuff the fish and lend it that beautiful savory flavor and aroma.
- Olive oil: The base for the sauce. Use the best quality you can get your hands on.
- Parsley: For the stuffing. Fresh parsley lends the dish a delicate aroma that works so well with the other ingredients.
- Salt: To season. You can also add some pepper if you want to.
Variations
- For extra flavor and deliciousness, stuff the stomach with some sundried tomatoes.
- Capers can also be an excellent addition to the dish, and can lend lots of briny flavor to the fish- just like the olives.
How to Make Spigola Alla Vernaccia
To make the Spigola alla Vernaccia, you’ll first need to preheat your oven to 180°C.
Step 1: Start by cleaning the insides of the sea bass. Remove its stomach and intestines and wash it nicely. Stuff it with garlic and parsley.
Step 2: In a bowl, combine flour and salt. Lightly cover the fish with this mixture.
Step 3: Pour olive oil in a large baking dish and lay the coated sea bass in it. Add in the olives and pour the wine too.
Step 4: Pop the tray in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes. Remove, flip the fish over, and cook again for 15-20 minutes.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- Vernaccia is a Sardinia-only wine, and it has quite a unique flavor. If your local wine shop doesn’t sell it, try to buy it online – Contini and Silvio Carta are two of the best wine producers in Sardinia, and there are some online wine shops that sell it too.
- If you still can’t find it, substituting it with another dry white wine is definitely an option, but keep in mind the taste won’t be exactly the same.
- If you’re not great at cleaning fish, you can ask your fishmonger to remove the stomach and intestines for you.
- Don’t scale the seabass. Most Spigola alla Vernaccia recipes will suggest you do, but I have found that keeping the scales on makes the meat juicier, and you can easily de-bone and de-skin the fish after it’s done cooking.
- If you notice the sauce drying up, you can add a bit more of the wine to get it to the perfect consistency.
How to Serve Spigola Alla Vernaccia
Enjoy this Sardinian sea bass dish on its own, or pair it with some crusty bread to mop up all that delicious sauce.
Recipe FAQs
You certainly can use sea bream for this recipe. Keep in mind sea bream a less fatty, much drier fish compared to sea bass, so adjust the cooking time accordingly to make sure it doesn’t dry out.
For this recipe, it’s actually best that you use whole fish and not just the fillets.
It can take a little less (or more) time for the fish to cook, depending on the size of the fish that you’re cooking. Keep an eye on the fish towards the end, and cover it with foil if you feel it’s browning too quickly.
More Sardinian Recipes to Try
There are also these Sardinian recipes you may want to try at home:
- Fregola Con Arselle
- Burrida Alla Cagliaritana
- Agnello Coi Carciofi
- Sardinian Panada
- Pani Frattau
- Pardule – Sardinian Saffron And Ricotta Tarts
- Seadas – Sardinian Cheese And Honey Pastries
- Su Mustazzeddu
- Zeppole – Sardinian Carnival Sweets
Planning a trip to Sardinia? Pair your foodie adventures with insider travel tips, must-visit restaurants, and Sardinia local secrets that will make your journey unforgettable. Browse our Sardinia guides today, and get in touch with Claudia for more tips.
Spigola Alla Vernaccia
Ingredients
- 2.2 pounds 1 kg whole sea bass
- 1/2 cup 70 gr of black olives
- 1/2 cup 100 ml of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup 200 ml of Vernaccia wine (200 ml)
- 1 clove of garlic
- Parsley
- Salt
- All purpose flour
Instructions
- To make the Spigola alla Vernaccia, you’ll first need to preheat your oven at 180°C.
- Start by cleaning the insides of the sea bass. Remove its stomach and intestines and wash it nicely. Stuff it with garlic and parsley.
- In a bowl, combine flour and salt. Lightly cover the fish with this mixture.
- Pour olive oil in a large baking dish and lay the coated sea bass in it. Add in the olives and pour the wine too.
- Pop the tray in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes. Remove, flip the fish over and cook again for 15-20 minutes.
Video
Notes
- Cooking time varies depending on the size of the fish and on the kind of tray you use.
- Add a little extra Vernaccia if you feel the sauce is drying up.
- For extra flavor, consider stuffing the insides of the fish with capers or sundried tomatoes.
Nutrition
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Claudia Tavani
Claudia Tavani was born and raised in Sardinia, and after moving between the United States and the United Kingdom, she's now back living in her hometown, Cagliari. She's a travel blogger and certified travel designer who loves planning trips and publishing guides, travel tips, and packing lists so that you don't have to. Owner of Strictly Sardinia, cat mom to Minnie. Loves pizza, hiking, archeology, cities, beaches, swimming, and running. Hates peppers.