Recipe

Sicilian-Style Baked Fish with Olives, Capers and Tomatoes

Name: Sicilian-Style Baked Fish with Olives, Capers and Tomatoes
Yield: 2–3
Ingredients: 600g firm white fish fillets (cod, haddock or sea bream); 3 tbsp olive oil; 1 small onion, finely diced; 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced; 2 anchovy fillets in oil; 1 tsp chilli flakes; 1 x 400g tin whole plum tomatoes; 80g pitted green olives, roughly torn; 2 tbsp capers, rinsed; Zest and juice of ½ lemon; Small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped; Crusty bread or new potatoes, to serve

White fish baked in a bold Sicilian-style sauce of olives, capers, tomatoes and a little anchovy. One of those dishes that looks and tastes far more complex than it actually is.

Serves 2–3

Ready in 40 min

Keeps 2 days fridge

600g firm white fish fillets (cod, haddock or sea bream)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 anchovy fillets in oil
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 x 400g tin whole plum tomatoes
80g pitted green olives, roughly torn
2 tbsp capers, rinsed
Zest and juice of ½ lemon
Small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Crusty bread or new potatoes, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C / gas 5. Heat the olive oil in a wide ovenproof frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 8 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and anchovy fillets, stirring until the anchovies melt into the oil — about 2 minutes. Add the chilli flakes.

Add the tinned tomatoes, crushing them with the back of a spoon. Stir in the olives and capers. Simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened slightly and the flavours have come together. Taste — it should be bold, salty and a little sharp. Season carefully; the capers and anchovies are already salty.

Nestle the fish fillets into the sauce, spooning some of it up and over the fish. Add the lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 12–15 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish. The fish is done when it flakes easily when pressed with a fork and has lost its translucency.

Scatter generously with flat-leaf parsley and serve directly from the pan with crusty bread to mop up the sauce, or over new potatoes.

✦ Chef's note

Anchovy fillets are optional but not really — they dissolve completely into the sauce and provide a depth of savouriness that's impossible to replicate any other way. They won't make the dish taste fishy. Don't skip them.