Baked Fish with Roasted Potatoes and Fennel

Ingredients

• 3 cups (1 pound) red potatoes, cut into 1/8 inch slices
• 1 large fennel bulb, sliced thin
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (roughly)
• 1/2 teaspoon each of salt & pepper
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 tablespoon orange rind
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, chopped
• 4 6-ounce halibut fillets (or any other firm white fish)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Combine potatoes, fennel, 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, some salt & pepper in a baking dish and toss gently to coat.  Bake for 30 minutes.
2. In a skillet on the stove top, heat 1/2 teaspoon olive oil.  Add fennel seeds (or not) and garlic, saute for one minute.  Add some salt & pepper, wine, 1/2 of the parsley, orange rind (don’t be scared!), oregano and tomatoes; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 8 minutes.
3. Sprinkle fish fillets with some salt & pepper.  Arrange fillets over the potato mixture and then spread the tomato mixture over the fillets.  Don’t drown them to death, just coat a nice layer over them, enough so it starts spilling over into the potato/fennel mixture.  Bake at 450 for 20 minutes or until the fish flakes easily.  Sprinkle with the remainder of the parsley.  Sprinkle some salmoriglio sauce over fillets (or not).

Salmoriglio Sauce

• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt & pepper to taste

1. Wisk all ingredients together