Greek-Style Baked Fish: Fresh, Simple, and Delicious

I'm thrilled that Ann from Sumptuous Spoonfuls—a blog that celebrates food in all its fresh, colorful, textural, delicious glory—has written a guest post for us! I asked her to share a favorite fish recipe. Now, you may have noticed a lack of fish recipes on the FBS blog; it's because I just don't really care for fish much, not because I don't fully recognize its nutritional benefits. I always recommend fish to my clients: it provides omega-3s, protein, and B vitamins—all vital during pregnancy and beyond. Of course, you should choose your fish wisely, to avoid types high in mercury.


So, without further ado, here's Ann's simple (and somehow still absolutely fabulous) recipe for Greek-Style Baked Fish.

Hello, Full Belly Sisters! My name is Ann and my blog is called Sumptuous Spoonfuls. I am a mother of two teenagers and I love to cook healthy, delicious food. I was so honored when Justine asked me to do a guest post on her blog! When she mentioned a fish recipe would be nice, I immediately thought of this one. It’s a fish dish I found on the internet many, many years ago, when my son was little and my daughter didn’t even exist yet. I’ve made this recipe countless times and every time I serve it, my friends rave about it. I love this dish because it’s colorful, delicious, and healthy … and it’s simple. You can even make it up ahead of time (while the kids are napping, perhaps?) and just pull it out of the fridge and bake it at dinnertime. I’ve been meaning to blog about it and Justine gave me the perfect excuse to make it.

It’s pretty enough to serve to dinner guests, yet fast enough for a weeknight meal.

This dish scales (FBS note: "scales" is funny because this is a fish dish! Wonder if Ann did that on purpose...) easily up or down very easily and works well with all sorts of fish. I’ve used silver bass, walleye, northern pike and catfish and they were all good … the original recipe says it works with grouper, snapper, sole … honestly, I think just about any fish would do.  It’s a very forgiving recipe … feel free to adjust the amounts as you please.

Ingredients

(serves about 4)

• Fish fillets (approximately 1 lb of fish)
• Salt & pepper
• Red onion, thinly sliced (about ½ a large onion per pound of fish)
• Bell pepper, thinly sliced (or chopped) – 1 pepper per pound of fish
• Tomato, chopped (about 1 medium tomato for a pound of fish)
• Dried basil and oregano (1 teaspoon each per pound of fish)
•  ¼ cup white wine per pound of fish (the alcohol from the wine should cook off, but if you’re worried about using wine, you can substitute tomato juice)
•  2 – 3 oz. of crumbled feta cheese per pound of fish
•  2 Tablespoons olive oil per pound of fish
• Freshly ground pepper
• A wedge or two of fresh lemon (optional)
•  Fresh basil and/or oregano leaves for garnish (optional)
• Cooked rice (I like basmati rice with this), for serving

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Choose an oven-proof baking dish that your fish will fit in without overlapping and spray it with cooking spray.

Lay the fish fillets in the baking pan in a single layer, season with salt and pepper, then top the fish with red onion and bell pepper.

Sprinkle with dried basil and oregano, the tomato, and the feta cheese, then drizzle the white wine and olive oil over top. Grind some fresh pepper over the top.

Bake uncovered for about 12 – 15 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.  Squeeze the lemon wedges over the cooked fish, garnish with the fresh basil and/or oregano and serve with hot cooked rice.