This dish was inspired from my love for fennel, olives and capers. I had something similar years ago in Tuscany and it was a memory I could never forget. I loved this dish as it is a lovely main course that can be easily put together.
You’ll Need:
- 800g fresh barramundi fillet from Kühlbarra (marinade with: 3g salt, 10g freshly ground black pepper and 1 tbsp olive oil)
- 300g orange sweet potatoes, sliced
- 300g purple sweet potatoes, sliced
- 100g baby carrots, left whole
- 100g tomatoes chopped roughly or cherry tomatoes
- 150g fennel sliced
- 50g kalamata olives pitted (use 100g if unpitted)
- 15g capers
- zest of 1 orange
- juice of 1 orange
- ½ juice of lemon
- 300 ml white wine
- 50ml olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic with skin on
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions:
- Preheat oven at 200C for 30 minutes.
- Toss the vegetables in 1 tbsp olive oil, 3 g of salt, some freshly ground black pepper, zest of ½ orange , zest of ½ lemon and orange juice 15ml.
- Drizzle a little olive oil in a frying pan and pan fry the barramundi skin down first for a couple of minutes to crisp the skin a little. Set aside.
- In a baking tray, lay the bottom with the tossed sweet potatoes.
- Place the fish with the crisped skin up on top of the sweet potatoes.
- Place the fennel, olives, capers, the marinated carrots, garlic cloves and tomatoes on top of the fish.
- Drizzle the olive oil, white wine, the zest and juice of the orange and lemon onto the top.
- Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- Cover with aluminium foil and pop into the oven for 45 minutes.
- Check for doneness especially if the fillet is really thick.
- Add freshly chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice before serving. Spoon the juices over the fish if you like.
Tips:
- This dish can be prepared the night before and put into the fridge until it is ready to be baked the next day.
- Whole cherry tomatoes are great to be used in this dish. You can omit sweet potatoes if you don’t fancy. Just increase the carrots, cherry tomatoes and fennel used.
- Variation: other seafood like calamari and prawns would be a lovely addition to this dish.