Love fish but hesitate to cook? This one pot meal is for you! Simply poach the fish into a zero-skill tomato broth, you’ll have a restaurant-like dish in 30 mins!
This gorgeous one pot meal is learned from a cookbook called MEZCLA: Recipes to excite, written by Ixta Belfrage, the co-author of another popular cookbook – Ottolenghi FLAVOUR.
Why I Love This One Pot Meal
- Simple ingredients. You probably already have all the ingredients on hand and can start cooking right away.
- All happens in one pot. Char the tomatoes, pour in every broth ingredient, then poach the fish. Everything happened in one pot. Less to wash, too!
- Truly flavourful. A great taste doesn’t have to be complicated, and it’s not necessary to be cooked for a long time! Put these right ingredients together and they will sing for you.
- Quick to cook. It took me less than 30 minutes to cook this meal. Probably 20 minutes will do too (if prep well beforehand)!
A Few Cooking Notes
- Frozen fish works well. I’m a fan of frozen fish. I know those fresh fishes from the supermarket most likely have been frozen before, then thawed. And if the fish is freeze properly, there’s nothing wrong with it and it is still very tasty after being cooked!
- I skipped chilli. In the original recipe, a Scotch bonnet is charred together with the tomatoes, and a grilled chilli is added to the broth before serving. I can’t take that much heat and I find the paprika powder offered a mild heat that I like.
- I didn’t make the paprika aïoli. Again, this is spooned over the fish in MEZCLA, but I wanted to keep the recipe simple. If you want the aïoli, you can simply stir paprika and saffron through a couple of large spoonfuls of mayo.
Poached Fish in Charred Tomato Broth Recipe
Char the tomatoes, pour in every broth ingredients, simmer for a few minutes, poach the fish, all done in less than 30 minutes!
Ingredients
Serves 2 as a main
- 4 frozen white fish fillets (400 g), thawed in advance
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- ½ tsp salt
For the Tomato Broth
- 250 g sweet and ripe cherry tomatoes
- 2 fat cloves of garlic, minced
- 5 g basil
- 5 g parsley (or coriander)
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp paprika powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 350 g water
- 15 g unsalted butter
How to Make
- Pat dried the thawed fish. Marinate with lime juice and salt for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Heat up a large sauté pan over high heat. Without oil, throw in the tomatoes to char in parts, about 5 minutes. Stirring often. The goal here is to let them char.
- Turn off the heat and add in the garlic, oil, salt, tomato purée, paprika powder and half of the herbs. Turn on the heat to medium and cook for 2 minutes until the garlic is fragrant.
- Pour in the water and butter, bring it to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to press the tomatoes to release their juice into the broth.
- Tip in the fishes and cook for 3 minutes. Cover and turn off the heat, let the fishes poach in the broth for a further 2 minutes, until they are just cooked.
- Sprinkle in the remaining herbs and serve with crusty bread.
