I chose this dish for the “Cooking Italy” schedule, because it’s not a typical way most people cook fish and it is a low calorie, healthy meal. Not all Southern Italian food has to be heavy or fattening.
There is no way to make filet of sole look delicious, but take heart, it can taste delicious and a bit sultry. Fish with tomato, spice and capers is very Sicilian, and that means it shouts a little. And there are only two ways to eat this. Over pasta or with crusty bread. Sole tends to fall apart. Be okay with that. It’s a tender, lovely fish, and this is a great way to enjoy it.
Although this was made with canned Italian tomatoes, I’m thinking of summer coming and roasting my own tomatoes for a dish like this.
This was served over some spinach fettucini, which was cooked quite al dente and first tossed with olive oil, red pepper and parmigiano reggiano. The cheese took the place of garlic, which is what I would have used, had I not surprisingly run out.
Cooking Italy: Baked Filet of Sole with Tomato, Oregano, Hot Pepper
Ingredients
- 2/3 cups onions sliced very thin
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic chopped very fine
- 1 cup canned imported Italian tomatoes
- Salt
- 2 tablespoons capers soaked and rinsed if packed in salt, drained if packed in vinegar
- 2 teaspoons fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
- Black pepper or chopped hot red chili pepper
- 2 pounds gray sole fillets or other flatfish fillets
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450.
- Put the onion and olive in saute pan on medium until onion soften to light gold. Add garlic. Add tomatoes, salt and cook for 20 minutes until oil floats free from tomatoes. Add capers, oregano and pepper. Stir for a minute. Take off heat.
- Wash fish fillets in cold water. Pat dry with paper towels. The recipe calls for folding the fillets in half, and this is probably because they easily fall apart. Smear baking dish with tomato sauce.
- Dip each fillet in sauce, fold. Pour remaining sauce. Put in uppermost rack of oven. Bake for five minutes or until done, but do not overcook.
- If sauce is too liquidy, pour into a saucepan and dilute on top of the stove to get back to
- original density.
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How is this adapted from Marcella Hazan recipe ? Its a direct copy of her recipe
Here is how it generally works when blogging a recipe. You can copy the ingredients but not word for word instructions. Mine are not word for word. The accepted term is “adapted.” I always cite the author.
In this case, this was a cooking group that chose Marcella’s book. She knew about it. I communicated with her and spoke with her son and daughter in law on the phone. These posts have been great PR for the book, as I’ve sold hundreds of them on Amazon with my links.
We did this group for a year and it was a great learning experience for me and for my readers. To this day, the posts are visited and even this week, two of the books were ordered on Amazon.
Thanks
Angela Roberts
Love the blog