Crazy title–simple and delicious recipe.
Just fresh fish–whole (preferably) or in fillet form–poached briefly in water flavoured with sweet cherry tomatoes, garlic, chili and parsley.
Fishermen on the Amalfi coast in Italy cook the non-saleable fish with these simple ingredients–usually to hand.
Why “crazy” though?
for 2
a whole sea bream/dorade or sea bass weighing about a 1lb/450gms–gutted and scaled
8oz/250gms cherry tomatoes–gashed to release their flesh but kept whole. I found some cherry tomatoes on the vine at the market this morning which were surprisingly sweet for the time of the year. Later in the year any ripe tomato would do, though the cherry variety look pretty.
4 tblsps olive oil
3 garlic cloves–chopped
1 tblsp parsley–chopped
2/3 small dried red chilis–sliced roughly
16fl oz boiling water
- Wash the fish, pat dry and season.
- Heat the oil in a pan large enough to hold the fish lying flat.
- Sauté the garlic and chili for a couple of minutes.
- Add the fish and sauté for half a minute each side,
- Add the hot water, the tomatoes and parsley.
- Squeeze the tomatoes against the sides of the pan to release some of their sweetness.
- Spoon some of the liquid over the fish, cover and cook on a low heat for about ten minutes–depending on the size of the fish.
- Carefully lift the fish out of the pan to a warm plate and separate the fillets–if it’s a whole fish.
- Serve with two or three spoonfuls of the tomatoey sauce.
- Meredith would have liked some basmati brown rice but the cupboard was bare!
- A green salad was a good stand-in.
Robin Ellis 
Good morning, Robin. Not a blessed chance for me to cook this colourful and “sans doute” a very tasty dish on a Sunday. Haven’t caught any fish yet. This one is a beauty. There’s always tomorrow… Thank you for it!
‘Morning Odette from a sunny Spring-like SW France!
…and the same to you, my friend, from a very dry warm and golden South Australian Autumn. My warmest greetings to you both and to all members of your furry family!
Birds are singing of Spring here too…church bells are ringing & the first daffodil is out…beautiful looking dish, Robin. We are having kedgeree tonight with that brown basmati, but this will be on the menu very soon I think! Happy day to you both…
Kedgeree/Kitcherie–good idea.
Let us know how it went with the brown rice.
And the same to you, my friend, from a warm dry golden South Australian Autumn… My warmest greetings to you both and to all members of your furry family!
I eat so much Brown Basmati Rice (at main meals and as a ‘snack’ eg. with goats milk yogurt + coconut) that I would go into ‘meltdown’ if the “cupboard was bare”..!! I cook a large ‘vat’ of it every 4 days or so, keep up to 2 days-worth in the fridge (N.B. any longer than that would be dodgy and a health risk, due to hidden moulds or something, I was told) and freeze the rest, carefully flattened in large plastic bags! Quite a job breaking it up sometimes (lots of bashing with an old wooden spoon..!), so I’ve found it’s best to really flatten it and then break it up a bit before it’s frozen solid…. chunks are then easily defrosted in about 3 minutes a veg steamer, or by pouring boiling water over the frozen rice in a plastic pot with a lid to then put on. (Rice from the fridge is more easily heated up, but using similar methods… hope this makes sense.)
My husband and I had a rare evening in the house alone, so we celebrated with this dish. Just lovely!!