SICILIAN FISH

Read on for my recipe for Sicilian Fish

Don’t you just love the whole Mediterranean diet, the use of vegetables, fruits, pulses, legumes plus fish and to a lesser extent meat. Fish is super healthy and we never seem to eat enough of it. I love this Sicilian Fish dish because it is super easy to make and packed with the flavours of summer sunshine.

 

Way back in my misspent youth I was lucky enough to work for a year on the Italian island of Sicily. This was when I was twenty two and I went to be an au-pair for a family in Palermo. It was hell on wheels, I didn’t even have a bedroom and had to sleep on a fold down sofa. Leaving that job I soon found myself a new one teaching English to a family out at Acitrezza which was a beautiful village.

Sicilian cooking

The Mama in the family was a great cook and taught me how to make my own pasta and how to use herbs, anchovies and capers to add flavour to dishes. Sicily is famous for it’s use of capers in dishes and all Italians like to use anchovies to add depth to dishes. I always keep a little jar of anchovies in oil in my fridge. Don’t be afraid of using these tiny fish, they don’t have a fishy taste when added to sauces etc. Instead they just melt down to nothing but pack a fabulous punch of flavour.

Fish was very often served at lunch time when we ate our main meal and this Sicilian Fish is my take on what she would make.

 

This is a recipe for one person so just double up etc to add as many portions as you like. I am cooking for one at the moment as my daughter has gone back to Uni so I’m on my own here on Walton’s Mountain.

When you’re cooking just for yourself it can be tempting to just get the whole ‘can’t be bothered’ thing going and end up with really basic stuff like soups or eggs or cheese on toast. There is nothing wrong with that at all but why should you. I’m a great believer in cooking nice things for yourself and treating yourself like an honoured guest at your own table.

Keep it simple

The trick with cooking for one is to keep it simple and don’t get bogged down in ultra long recipes that take ages to cook.

Use a few good quality ingredients, some store cupboard basics and bring things together within half an hour at most, result!

Ingredients;

• 1 small monk fish fillet or other firm white fish
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• pinch of dried chilli
• 3 fresh tomatoes
• 2 tbsp olives stoned
• 1 tbsp capers
• 1 anchovy fillet
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• juice and zest of 1/2 lemon

Method;

• Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the fish for approximately 2 minutes each side
• Remove from pan and place in an oven proof dish with the lemon juice and pop into a preheated oven at 180C for 5 minutes
• Meanwhile in the frying pan cook all other ingredients for 5 minutes
• Add the cooked tomato mixture to the fish and bake for a further 10 minutes
• Serve with some mixed greens like rocket, spinach and pea shoots.

So there you have it, Sicilian Fish, tasty and healthy and quick and easy to make. A taste of Mediterranean sunshine in the depths of winter.

Enjoy.

Karon x

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