Baked Fish with Capers and Olives

Many kind of fish are appropriate for this treatment, including tuna and swordfish. Or try thick salmon, sea bass, haddock, cod, snapper, or grouper fillets or halibut steaks or thick slices of monkfish. This dish could as easly be Greek as Italian – if you want to make it more so, add a teaspoon of dried oregano with the bread crumbs.

Ingredients:

• 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds boneless fish
• 1 cup very ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeded (page 25), or 1 cup drained imported canned tomatoes
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon drained capers, rinsed
• ¼ cup chopped pitted green olives, preferably large imported Italian olives
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup unseasoned dry bread crumbs

How to:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Use a teaspoon of oil to coat the inside of a baking dish large enough to hold all the fish in one layer. Place the fish in it. Chop the tomatoes and mix with the sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl. Add the capers and olives and mix again. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as desired. Pile the tomato sauce on top of the fish pieces. Distribute the bread crumbs over the top and drizzle on the remaining oil. Place in the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the fish is thoroughly cooked, the sauce very bubbly and browned.