After all the excess of rich Christmas food, I often find myself craving something light and fresh. I really like fish cooked with tomatoes; you may recall a few months ago my recipe for Basa with Tomatoes. This is another version of fish with tomatoes. The colours evoke thoughts of summer eating, and it couldn’t be simpler to make.

WHAT YOU NEED:

(This quantity makes enough for 1-2 people depending on fish fillet size, so obviously double or triple up if you’re cooking for more!)

– 2 Frozen skinless, boneless fillets of white fish. I used Basa again here because I pretty much always have some of that in the freezer (if you use fresh rather than frozen fish, reduce the cooking time).
– A couple of wedges of fresh lemon
– Extra virgin olive oil
– Salt and Pepper
– 1 clove garlic, crushed
– 1 cup cherry tomatoes
– Small handful of fresh basil leaves
– 1/3 cup pitted black olives

WHAT YOU DO:

1. Lay out a large piece of foil, big enough that you will be able to fully, but loosely encase the ingredients (or two long pieces in a cross shape if you only have narrow foil as I did).

2. Place the two frozen fish fillets on the foil (If you are making a larger quantity then make more than one foil package, two fillets per foil package is enough). Generously brush the fillets with olive oil and squeeze on a good amount of lemon juice. Spread the crushed garlic over. Season well with salt and pepper.

3. Throw on the cherry tomatoes, slice the black olives and throw them on, roughly the tear up the basil leaves and scatter them over too.

4. Gather the foil up and roll the top and sides to fully encase the ingredients, try to not leave any gaps, but don’t wrap it tightly, you’re creating a kind of tent for the steam to build up inside and cook it.

5. Place in a pre-heated oven 180C/350F for 25-30 minutes. Check it after 25 minutes by opening up the foil and gently pressing a knife into the fish to see if the flakes separate easily. If it doesn’t seem done, seal it back up, put back in the oven for 5 minutes and check again.

6. I like to serve this with simple boiled or mashed potatoes, or rice – something that will soak up all that lovely juice.

Happy New Year everyone!