Puttanesca and Roasted Fish
Serves 2
Ingredients:
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
2 x 180g chunky White Fish fillets (Cod, Ling Pollock ,Hake), skin and bones removed
Puttanesca sauce
1 fennel bulb, finely sliced (keep the green fronds to serve)
1 red onion, sliced
4 garlic cloves, peel & crush slightly
Fresh thyme if you can get it – half a dozen springs would do – or a teaspoon of dried
½ tin of chopped tomatoes
If you can get them – a couple of handful of cherry tomatoes, pierce with a fork. If you can’t get them, use the rest of the tin of tomatoes
Glass of white wine
1½ tsp sugar
1½ tbsp red wine vinegar
70g pitted Kalamata olives
2 tbsp capers, rinsed and drained
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC
- Make the sauce, place the fennel, onion, cherry tomatoes and garlic in an oven-to-table baking dish. Season with salt and pepper and scatter on the thyme. Toss everything around in 2 tbs of oil
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. This lets you get a head start on the other ingredients that don’t take as long.
- While that’s in oven, in a pan mix tinned tomatoes, wine and sugar and bring to a simmer.
- Take the pan off the heat, stir in the vinegar and season to taste.
- Pour the hot tomato sauce over the hot vegetables in the baking dish and scatter in the olives and capers.
- Lightly oil and season the fish. Pop it into the hot sauce in the baking dish, leaving the top of the fish just peeping through the sauce.
- Bake for about 10 minutes. Don’t overcook it. Remember that the fish will continue cooking in the hot sauce after it comes out of the oven.
- Sprinkle on the reserved fennel fronds and serve with some fresh crusty bread.
