Italian

Matt Preston's super-easy fish puttanesca

Name: Matt Preston's super easy fish puttanesca
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: /italian
Ingredients: Extra virgin olive oil; Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper; 2 x 180g chunky white fish fillets (such as blue eye), skin and bones removed; 1 baby fennel bulb, finely sliced (young fronds reserved); ½ red onion, sliced; 200g cherry tomatoes, pierced; 4 garlic cloves, smashed; 6 thyme sprigs; 250g (1 cup) crushed tomatoes; 120ml white wine; 1½ tsp sugar; 1½ tbs red wine vinegar; 70g pitted kalamata olives; 2 tbs capers, rinsed and drained

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by Matt Preston

delicious. senior editor

Jul 19, 2001

This recipe is just about the tastiest thing you can do with a couple of hunks of white fish, according to Matt Preston.

This is an edited extract from The Simple Secrets To Cooking Everything Better by Matt Preston (Pan Macmillan, $39.99).

Extra virgin olive oil
Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
2 x 180g chunky white fish fillets (such as blue eye), skin and bones removed

Puttanesca sauce

1 baby fennel bulb, finely sliced (young fronds reserved)
½ red onion, sliced
200g cherry tomatoes, pierced
4 garlic cloves, smashed
6 thyme sprigs
250g (1 cup) crushed tomatoes
120ml white wine
1½ tsp sugar
1½ tbs red wine vinegar
70g pitted kalamata olives
2 tbs capers, rinsed and drained

Method

1.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
2.

For the puttanesca 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 oil, then bake in the oven for 20 minutes. This lets you get a head start on the other ingredients that don’t take as long.
3.

Meanwhile, combine the crushed tomatoes, wine and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the vinegar and season just a little.
4.

Pour the hot tomato sauce over the hot vegetables in the baking dish and scatter in the olives and capers.
5.

Lightly oil and season the fish. Nestle each fillet down into the hot sauce in the oven-to-table baking dish, leaving the top of the fish just peeping through the sauce.
6.

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 immediately.