Tuesday 24 May 2011

Blue Eye Trevalla with the most delicious Pepperonata



This has to be the most delicious dish ever! I love it. I have been inspired to share this dish with you all now, as I have an abundance of home grown tomatoes that needed to be used quickly. They are slowly taking over my kitchen.

Yes that's right, here in Hobart my home grown tomatoes have only just turned red! I did plant them a little later than show day (all Hobartians know that tomatoes are due to go in the ground at show time, which falls around the second week in October). However when talking with guys in my office, they have all shared that their tomatoes were all late bloomers this year as well. Maybe it's because we didn't really get a great summer this year?

                           

                          

Either way- all I know is that I have heaps of gorgeous tomatoes that I do not want to go to waste. And I'm not really in the mood for chutney either- still getting through it from last year!

So... this recipe is the perfect answer for using them all up! As you will see from my photos, I have a very mixed bag. I have successfully grown beautiful Cherry tomatoes as well as Romas, Ox Hearts and some other round variety.

 
                           

        

This dish has incredible health benefits for you- mainly due to the tomatoes. Like most of you may know, tomatoes have fantastic anti-cancer properties in them. Tomatoes are full of carotenoids, mainly lycopene which is known to be a potent cancer fighting nutrient. What you may not know- is that by cooking tomatoes, it releases up to 3 times more lycopene for your body to use. Great news!


This pepperonata is most certainly inspired from my Italian Nonna. I have watched her for years make this dish which is so more-ish that it never lasts long in the fridge. I remember having it for breakfast spread on toast- yum! Although inspired by Nonna, I'm going to call this one my own as I have mixed it up a little with the addition of olives and capers. She would probably shun me if she knew. Or maybe not? Italians are always inventing new things depending on whats in the fridge.

The olives and capers certainly lift the dish and add that extra zing! They are quite salty, so you won't need to add too much salt. I guess this dish is a bit like a cross between a caponata and pepperonata. I've taken the best bits from both.


If you're not like me, and don't have access to wonderful fresh tomatoes- then buy the vine-ripened or you can even use tinned tomatoes.

As there is so much flavour in the pepperonata, I have teamed it with an uncomplicated piece of crispy skin Blue Eye Trevalla. This has to be one of my favourite fish to eat. It tastes unreal when cooked in its simplest form- like I have here.


One last thing- make sure you have a wonderful fresh loaf of crusty bread! No Italian meal is complete without it. You especially need it with this dish to mop up the gorgeous sauce. I've opted for a delicious ciabatta which is baked at Smolt in Salamanca.




Get this
Variety of vine ripened tomatoes (about 650g) or 1 tin tomatoes
2 onions
2 red capsicums
2 cloves garlic
1 zucchini
80g kalamata olives, pitted
1 tablespoon capers
Extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
4x 200g fillets Blue-Eye Trevalla
Basil leaves to garnish
Crusty bread to serve

Remove Trevalla from the fridge. Place on a plate, and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt flakes. Leave to rest.
Place tomatoes on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and place in a hot over (220 degrees) for about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Remove skins and roughly chop. Season with salt and pepper. Make sure to reserve the cooking liquid in the tray. Leave the oven on, but reduce heat to 200 degrees.
Meanwhile heat a non-stick fry pan over high heat. Add a good glug of olive oil, thinly sliced onions and crushed garlic. Cook for a minute and then add finely sliced capsicum and zucchini strips. You want these vegetables to be similar in size. Cook for 5 minutes and then add olives and capers.
Add tomatoes, their cooking liquid, quarter cup of water and balsamin vinegar to the capsicum mixture. Stir, reduce heat and cook for a further 10-15 minutes. Taste and season accordingly.

Whilst the pepperonata finishes cooking, you can cook the fish.
Heat a non-stick pan over high heat. Add the Trevalla skin side down and leave for 3 minutes. You shouldn't need to add extra oil, as there should be enough on it. Flip the fish, and check that the skin is nice and crispy. Place fry pan in the oven and leave for 3-4 minutes. You don't want to overcook the fish. You want it to be a little firm, but still quite moist inside.

Everything should now be complete. Use lovely big bowls to plate up. Spoon equal amounts of pepperonata in each bowl, top with a piece of Trevalla. Drizzle with a little olive oil and garnish with baby basil leaves. Serve with crusty bread.
Serves 4


1 comment:

  1. Thank you for visiting my blog, I'm glad to have found yours! This dish has such beautiful ingredients and colours, it must've been so nice!

    ReplyDelete