Italian

Silvia’s Masterclass

From

Silvia’s Masterclass

season

3

episode

10

Roasted Ling with tomatoes and olives

With

Silvia Colloca

One-pan roasted ling over baby tomatoes, olives and caperberries. Bread for soaking.

PREP

15

MINS

Cook

45

MINS

SERVES

6

About this recipe

Silvia Colloca's ling fillets baked over baby tomatoes, Monini black olives and caperberries with parsley stalks, white wine and good olive oil. Italian one-pan cooking, the fish staying tender while the tomatoes blister and the brine concentrates. Bread for soaking.

Ling (Genypterus blacodes, the Australian ling) is the firm-fleshed white fish that suits the gentle baking treatment without falling apart or drying out. The flesh is mild enough to take on the briny, savoury flavours of the tomato and olive base without being overwhelmed; substitute with blue eye, snapper or any firm white fish if ling is unavailable.

The parsley stalks (rather than the leaves alone) are the small Italian household trick that defines proper one-pan fish cookery. Stalks contain most of the parsley's flavour and almost none of its bitterness when cooked; tied with kitchen string into small bundles and laid under the fish, they release their fragrance into the cooking juices and the fish picks up the perfume from below.

Monini black olives are the proper Italian-grown variety (rather than the mass-produced California black olives that go through chemical processing). The natural fermentation and salt-cure of the Italian olives gives them a deeper, more complex savoury note. Caperberries (the larger, pickled fruit of the caper plant, distinct from the smaller buds called capers) add brine and a slight pop of texture. White wine, olive oil, salt; bake at 180 for fifteen to twenty minutes depending on fillet thickness. Bread for soaking the pan juices.

Ingredients

- 1 x 850g skinless Ling fillets

- 500g mixed baby heirloom tomatoes

- 1/3 cup (40g) Monini pitted black Olives

- 1/3 cup (55g) caperberries, rinsed, drained

- 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves chopped, stalks reserved

- 100ml dry white wine

- 1/3 cup (80 ml) Monini Delicato extra virgin Olive Oil

- lemon zest

- Crusty bread, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking dish with baking paper.

2. Place the fish in a prepared dish and season with salt. Cut the larger tomatoes in half and keep the smaller ones whole, scatter olives around the fish. Season with salt.

3. Drizzle over wine and oil, then cover the dish with scrunched up baking paper and bake for 30-35 minutes until the fish is almost cooked through, remove the baking paper 20 minutes into cooking.

4. Increase the oven to 200°C and cook the tomato mixture for a further 10-15 minutes until starting to collapse.

5. Scatter tomato mixture over fish with parsley leaves, caper berries and lemon zest. Serve with toasted bread.

Silvia Colloca

Silvia Colloca is a Roman-born cook, opera singer and cookbook author who has spent the last decade documenting the regional cooking of Italy from her home in Sydney. She fronts Silvia’s Masterclass, working through the country one mother-recipe at a time. Her style is patient: fresh pasta by hand, long-rise focaccia, sauces built slow.

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