So Many Dishes

I am a semi-reformed Pinterest junkie. I still go on the app occasionally, but not as often as I used to. In fact, my Kindle, the only device where I have the app, has tried to auto-archive the app a couple of times because of lack of use.

In the early 2010s, I was on Pinterest almost every day. One of the feature writers at the Palm Beach Post had written about the site, and it piqued my interest. I started creating “boards” for all sorts of subjects: one of Italian scenery in anticipation of our walking tour in that country; classroom ideas and teaching tips; pictures of greyhounds (I haven’t looked at those since our last great died); flowers and gardens, and more. But by far, the majority of my pins are recipes. I have a board for baked goods, one for soups, a board of chicken recipes, another of seafood, Mediterranean recipes, and the list goes on.

Despite having pinned all these recipes, I’ve rarely used Pinterest as a source when I’m looking for new recipes. I’m trying to correct that, although I find that, if the pin is an old one, the link to the site where the actual recipe is/was may be broken. So when I pinned a new fish recipe last week, I made certain to print the recipe. I cooked it last night.

I think you have to be pretty confident to name your recipe The Best Mediterranean Baked Fish Ever. The recipe is from a site called Simple Dished, written by someone named Stella. I tried to find out more about her, but the site was just one pop-up ad after another. It was hard to fight my way through all the annoying ads to look at other recipes she has posted, but I didn’t see anything else that really appealed to me. Plus, Stella’s writing style is super perky, which gets annoying very quickly. The ingredient list for the fish listed “2 cloves Fresh Garlic, minced for aromatic goodness” and “1 cup Sweet Cherry Tomatoes, halved for juicy bursts of flavor.” Really? In the ingredient list? This fish dish did look really interesting, however.

I make a number of Mediterranean style baked fish recipes, and they’re all good. I was curious to see if this really was as good as advertised. It immediately had some things going for it: it’s quick to put together, all the steps are simple, and there’s only one pan. Cleanup was a snap.

I couldn’t help myself, I made a couple of changes. The recipe called for four 6-ounce white fish fillets. That’s obviously more than Ken and I need. We got a beautiful 12-ounce cod fillet at Whole Foods, but I used the full amount of all the other ingredients. I’m glad I did. As delicious as the fish turned out, the vegetables were outstanding. I don’t think the amount would have been enough for four people. We had a small piece of fish and a couple spoonfuls of veggies leftover, so I’d say this is a dish for two or three people. I also added about one-half teaspoon of Penzey’s Greek seasoning to the oregano and paprika called for. As an option, Stella says you can add olives or capers. To my mind, this was nonnegotiable, and I added both. In addition to Kalamata olives, I added some Castelvetrano olives that we had. Yum!

The Best Mediterranean Baked Fish Ever

• 3/4 – 1 lb white fish fillets, such as cod, halibut, or sea bass
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1 lemon, sliced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon Greek or Italian seas, optional
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Spread 1 teaspoon olive oil on bottom of baking dish. Arrange tomatoes, bell pepper, and zucchini across the bottom of the dish. Season the vegetables with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, minced garlic, and seasonings. Toss gently.

Place fish fillets on top of the seasoned vegetables. Add lemon slices over the fish. Drizzle with remaining two teaspoons of olive oil.

Cover the baking dish with foil. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Uncover and check fish (fish is cooked at 145 degrees on instant read thermometer). Continue to bake, uncovered, until fish flakes easily and reaches temperature. If desired, you can broil for 5 minutes for a crispy top. (I didn’t.)

Serve immediately. Makes 2-3 servings.

I’m not saying that this is the best fish ever, but it’s pretty darned good. I didn’t put it under the broiler because I was afraid of drying the dish out. I don’t think it would have added anything. Both the fish and veggies were delicious. We had picked up a sourdough boule when we bought the fish, and it was a perfect accompaniment. With all of the vegetables, we didn’t really need a side, but I decided to slice a leftover avocado half that I had in the fridge. It was a nice addition to an already outstanding meal.

Happy eating, everyone!