Day 1: Lemon butter fish with pepperonata

Lemon butter fish with pepperonata

recipe: Janine Ratcliffe

Olive Magazine, August 2009

According to the recipe, it should take 30minutes, serve 2, and is classed as 'easy'.

Ingredients

olive oil
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 tbsp raisins
1 tbsp capers, drained and rinsed
2tsp demerara sugar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
25g softened butter
1/2 lemon zested and juiced
2 firm white fish fillets, such as haddock or pollack

Method

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a shallow pan. Add the peppers (I found that only about 2/3 of each pepper was necessary and about half a large onion) and onion and season with salt. Put a lid on - I used a cartouche - and cook gently until softened but not coloured. Add the raisins, capers, sugar and vinegar, stir well and cook for 10 minutes until the liquid has reduced.

Mix the butter with the lemon zest and a squeeze of the juice and season. Spread over the fish and then grill for 4-5 minutes until just cooked through. Serve with pepperonata and salad. I used little gem lettuces as per the picture!

What it should look like...

Original photograph: Lis Parsons

What mine looked like...

The facts:
Yes, it was very easy to make within the thirty minutes and served two, although the very hungry husband, having been out on a long run, would have preferred a little more! Some crushed new potatoes might have done the trick.

As mentioned, I used a little less pepper and onion but ended up with a good balance of fish and pepperonata. The picture in the magazine showed that there was quite a lot of 'sauce' in the pepperonata, but I found that just the the 1tbsp vinegar and 2tsps sugar didn't produce as much as that. Perhaps double these quantities and a splash of olive oil would have created more?

Taste:

Excellent! The flavours worked well together and the lemony fish and sweet'n'sour peppers complemented each other. It definitely needed a different texture, which the crunchy little gem lettuce gave. I'd definitely make this again, but with a little more sauce and something to 'fill-up' the husband!