This might sound an unusual dish but it’s really a variation on good old chip-shop battered fish. You have the crisp outer layer (bread rather than batter in this case), the tender white fish and the vinegary, salty capers. A fairly open-textured bread works best. The edges and base get nice and crispy with the oil, while the middle gets a little soggy with fishy, capery buttery juices.
Serves 2
2 thick slices of bread
1 garlic clove, halved
Soft butter for spreading
2 pollack, whiting or sustainably caught cod fillets (about 150g each)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2–4 bay leaves (optional)
A few sprigs of thyme (optional)
2 tablespoons small capers, rinsed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 220oC/Gas 7. Rub the bread slices with the cut garlic clove, then spread with the butter. Season with salt and pepper and place, butter side up, in a small roasting tin.
Rub the fish all over with a little of the olive oil and season well. Place, skin side up, on top of the bread. Tuck the bay leaves and thyme, if using, under the pieces of fish. Scatter the capers over the fish and tuck a few underneath too. Trickle over the rest of the olive oil.
Roast in the oven for about 8–10 minutes or until the bread is toasted and golden around the edges and the fish is just cooked through. Serve at once with a green salad.
PLUS ONE OR TWO You can amplify the piquant character of this dish by scattering some roughly chopped stoned black olives over the fish as soon as it comes out of the oven. A few deseeded and chopped tomatoes – seasoned and bound with a little more olive oil, then spooned around the fish – make a further lovely addition.