Baked blue-eye with anchovy crust

Name: Baked blue-eye with anchovy crust
Cook time: 1 h
Yield: 4-6
Ingredients: 3 large tomatoes, thinly sliced; Salt flakes; Freshly ground black pepper; Extra virgin olive oil; 2 x 600g fillets blue-eye, boneless and skinless; 5 thick slices stale sourdough bread, crusts removed; 5 anchovies; 1 clove garlic, finely grated; 2 tsp fennel seeds; 1 tsp smoked paprika; 2 handfuls parsley leaves, roughly chopped; 100g butter, cubed; 4 sprigs thyme, picked; 1 lemon, to serve

August 7, 2013

Full-on flavour: Baked blue-eye with anchovy crust.Marina Oliphant

Time:30 mins - 1 hourServes:4-6

Blue-eye trevalla (also sold as blue-eye cod) carries intense flavours well and the typically thick fillets are perfect with a textural contrast such as this spicy, golden crumb.

Ingredients

3 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
Salt flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
2 x 600g fillets blue-eye, boneless and skinless
5 thick slices stale sourdough bread, crusts removed
5 anchovies
1 clove garlic, finely grated
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 handfuls parsley leaves, roughly chopped
100g butter, cubed
4 sprigs thyme, picked
1 lemon, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees fan-forced or 220 degrees conventional.
2. Lay the sliced tomato in a shallow baking tray, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with oil.
3. Place the fish on top of the tomato, season and place in the oven for about 10 minutes — the timing will depend on the thickness of the fillets, but it has another 10-15 minutes in the oven later to crisp up the crumbs, so don't leave it in too long.
4. In a food processor, add the bread, anchovies, garlic, fennel seeds, paprika and parsley, and blitz to a rough crumb. Add the cubed butter, season and quickly blitz again. Spread the crumbs evenly over the blue-eye, scatter over the thyme leaves and drizzle over a little oil.
5. Cook the fish for a further 10-15 minutes or until the crumb is golden and the fish cooked — if necessary, use the grill to help crisp up the crumbs. Serve with lemon and/or the egg and caper sauce (recipe here).