Susie Drage's Cookery Pages

Baked Cod Provencal

Serves 6

Preparation: 15 mins

Cooking Time: 40 mins

This was a combination of ideas for a recent Sunday lunch using absolutely fresh ingredients - attractive to look at and great flavours.

Ingredients

4 good sized fillets (175g each) of cod - if unavailable, you can use either white haddock or hake)

800g new potatoes, scrubbed and boiled in hot, salty water

160g olives (you can use either black, green or both - mine had been marinated in garlic and herbs)

400g fresh tomatoes, cut into quaraters

One red, one yellow, one green pepper, de-seeded and sliced

2 tablespoons of capers, drained

2 courgettes, washed, trimmed and sliced

1 large Spanish Onion, chopped into chunky pieces

One whole head of garlic

1 heaped teaspoon of Herbes de Provence

Large glass of white wine

50g tin anchovy fillets

Sea Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Freshly chopped parsley, optional garnish

AND THIS IS WHAT YOU DO......

Wash new potatoes, peel if needed, and boil in salted water until tender, Drain and set aside.
Pre-heat Oven to 200C Fan.
Cut the tomatoes into quarters and put into a bowl, together with the olives, capers, anchovies and set aside.
Put the chopped onion, sliced peppers and courgettes into a large roasting pan and place the head of garlic in one corner.
Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil, add seasoning according to taste, and sprinkle with the herbes de provence.
Place the roasting pan with the vegetables into a hot oven and cook for about 15 minutes.
Remove the roasting pan from the oven and add place the fillets of cod on to the top of the vegetables.
Now add the olive and tomato mixture and spread this evenly around the fish.
Pour over the white wine and then return the roasting dish to the oven and cook for a further 20 - 25 minutes. The fish should be opaque when checked with sharp knife and the vegetables should all be cooked and tender, but not burned. Check during this cooking time and, if necessary, cover with a sheet of foil.
You can either serve the fish and vegetables with the new potatoes, or if you are entertain, then you can arrange the potatoes on an oval platter and then place the fish and vegetables in an attractive manner and garnish with parsley.