Baked white fish

By Jamie Oliver

A delicious white fish recipe – try using coley, whiting, or pollock. This baked fish recipe is a really easy way to get beautifully flaky and tender fish, every time.

Ingredients

• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 bunch of fresh basil
• olive oil
• 1 fresh red chilli
• 2 x 400g tins of quality plum tomatoes
• red wine vinegar
• 4 x 150g white fish fillets such as coley, whiting, pollock, skin off, pin-boned, from sustainable sources
• 1 handful of black olives (stone in)
• 1 tablespoon capers

Instructions

1. 1

   To make the sauce, peel and finely slice the garlic cloves. Pick the basil leaves and finely slice the stalks.

2. 2

   Heat a good couple of lugs of oil in a large pan over medium heat, add the garlic and basil stalks. Pierce the chilli once with a knife so it doesn’t explode when frying, then add to the pan. Fry gently until the garlic is soft but not coloured, stirring occasionally.

3. 3

   Add the tomatoes and season lightly with sea salt and black pepper, then simmer gently over a low heat for 30 minutes, or until thickened and slightly reduced.

4. 4

   When the time's up, remove the chilli, and break up the tomatoes with the back of a spoon. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if needed, then add a tiny swig of red wine vinegar to give it a little twang.

5. 5

   Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7.

6. 6

   Pour the tomato sauce into a 20cm x 30cm roasting tray. Season the fish fillets on both sides with a little salt and pepper, then place on top of the sauce.

7. 7

   Squash the olives, using the base of a jar or something heavy, and remove the stones. Sprinkle into the tray, along with the capers and most of the basil leaves over the fish.

8. 8

   Cook in the oven for around 15 minutes or until the fish is cooked through – check by cutting into the thickest part of one or two of the fillets; they should be pearly white and not transparent.

9. 9

   Scatter over the remaining basil leaves. Lovely served with new potatoes and a green salad.