Pan fried fish à la Provençale

Claudia Roden shares this classic fish dish made with garlic and tomatoes. The recipe will be going into Claudia Roden’s new book of recipes and stories from the Mediterranean.

Serves 4

You can use any white fish such as monkfish, hake, turbot or cod and also salmon - steaks or thick fillets. The mingled flavours of ginger, saffron, orange and lemon peels, honey and chilli make this tomato sauce from Provence especially delicious. You can also use it for grilled or roast fish.

Ingredients

• 1kg ripe tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• A good pinch of saffron strands
• 1 – 1 ¼ teaspoons ground ginger
• The grated zest of ½ an orange
• The grated zest of ½ a lemon
• Salt
• 1 ½ tablespoons runny honey
• A very good pinch chilli pepper (to taste)
• 4 fat skinless fish fillets or steaks
• 12 good tasting black olives
• 4 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

Method

Wash the tomatoes, quarter them, and remove the little white hard bits at the stem end. Blend them to a light cream in a food processor.

In a wide pan, over low heat, put the oil and garlic and stir for less than a minute, until the aroma rises and the garlic only just begins to colour. Add the blended tomatoes, saffron, ginger, grated zests of orange and lemon and some salt. Stir well and simmer for about 10 minutes until the tomatoes are reduced. Add honey, and chilli pepper to taste and cook, stirring for moments more.

Heat 2 – 3 tablespoons of oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Put in the fish and cook 2 – 3 minutes or longer, depending on the fish and its thickness, and turning them over once until lightly brown outside and slightly undercooked inside. Serve with the sauce, sprinkled with parsley and garnished with olives.

Variation

For an intriguing aniseed flavour add 3 tablespoons of Pernod or Raki to the sauce at the same time as the other flavourings.
Garnish with ½ a chopped preserved lemon peel or 2 tablespoons of capers (squeezed of their brine).