Hello everyone! Your New Year Eve Main Dish has just landed! Featuring the Mediterranean Fish Provencal baked in Orange Tomato sauce with olives and basil that is going to look so festive on your New Year Eve table! What’s most important it is Easy & Make-Ahead!
This great Mediterranean Baked Fish recipe is perfect for the New Year’s Eve Centerpiece main dish. It has all the flavors of the sunny south-fresh fish, olive oil, tomatoes, herbs, and tiny black olives, all imbued with a hint of orange perfume.
The Mediterranean on a plate just in time
When it comes to New Year during Christmas Lent we want the best of two worlds: some elegant and succulent festive menu and at the same time some humble, plant-based, not too heavy (midnight remember?) Lent appropriate New Year menu. What should I cook? Or rather BAKE?
Lets talk time.
TIME.
We might go the Spanish tapas-style route and suggest plenty of appetizers for the guests who already arrived and need some entertainment before the New Year countdown. Try our beetroot salad crostini and Lavender cured salmon on avocado toast.
We can do the majority of the work in advance and just serve the appetizers straight from the fridge and use the precious time for getting ready to look beautiful (if you celebrate in your family circle) or entertaining guests or getting kids ready (if you decided to invite some friends).
Can we also do the main dish in advance that can be served hot right when the feast begins without stealing the time from the beauty preparations and kids’ decorations :)? Absolutely! By baking our fish!
Mediterranean Fish Provencal in Orange Tomato sauce is the perfect festive main dish that is so easy to make ahead that will not steal your time from the New Year preparations!
It takes 15 minutes to assemble everything and only 15 minutes to bake the final dish when the time comes.
Overview How To Bake Fish Provencal in Orange Tomato Sauce
- Prepare your ingredients
- Make the orange tomato sauce
- Arrange the final dish and put it in the oven
- Relax and enjoy your appetizers until the time comes for the countdown and the hot main dish.
What do I need for this Mediterranean Baked Fish recipe?
- White fish fillets to bake
- Oranges to juice and peel for the aromatic sauce
- Tomatoes for the sauce
- Olives to garnish and to give that extra Mediterranian notes
- Garlic
- Fresh basil to garnish the dish
- Some salt, pepper to taste and EVOO
What fish is the best in this recipe?
Any white fish will do! I used barramundi as its flesh is not very thick, if you choose the fish with thicker slices, such as cod, please add extra 5-7 minutes in the oven to let the fish bake through. The original recipe calls for the whole fish (if you choose the whole fish variant then dust the fish with flour and fry on the high heat with a little bit of hot oil for two minutes on each side. You can also grill the fish. In this case, baste the fish with olive oil to prevent it from sticking to the pan.
What side dish will do well here?
I strongly suggest trying my Mediterranean style black rice with almonds which also can be done in advance. The nutty flavor of this side dish goes perfectly well with our sweet and sour orange tomato sauce, black olives and basil finish up the symphony of flavors.
Black rice with almonds
This side dish is the no-recipe recipe. Take two parts water, one part rice, and a handful of almonds. Bring water to boil, add rice, cover with the lid, reduce heat to a minimum, and cook until the water evaporates completely (approximately 40 minutes). Pulse almonds in the food processor until chunky to your taste and mix with cooked rice and olive oil. You may also add a handful of dried cherries or cranberries 5 minutes before the water is completely evaporated (to soften them) and your rice will add a festive note to the celebration menu.
What can I do in advance?
You can cook the tomato orange sauce and keep it in the fridge.
When the time for baking the New Year main dish comes you arrange your fish in an earthenware dish, pour the sauce, scatter the black olives around and cover the fish with sliced oranges. Bake the fish for 15 minutes and voila! Your Mediterranean spirit New Year centerpiece bursting with fresh flavor and fragrance is ready to be savored!
After eating this incredible meal, you will become a pinch happier, I promise!
Bon Appétit!
Mediterranean Baked Fish in Orange Tomato sauce
Ingredients
- 2 lb white fish fillet
- 500 gr fresh plum tomatoes
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 oranges
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
- 1 bunch fresh basil leaves torn into pieces
- 16 small black olives
- 4 tbsp plain white flour for dusting (optional)
Instructions
- Prepare your ingredients
- Pour boiling water over the tomatoes and allow to stand for 1-2 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F/gas 4. Zest one orange, juice two oranges. Chop the garlic. Peel the tomatoes easily.
- Heat 4 tbsp. of olive oil in a heavy pan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and as soon as it begins to sizzle, the chopped tomatoes and the juice of 2 oranges, together with the zest of 1 orange and a pinch of salt. Simmer uncovered for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally to help the tomatoes break down until you have a thick tomato sauce. Take off the heat and add half the basil. If you are doing fish fillet disregard this, but if you want to do the whole fish follow the following steps. Season the flour well and lightly dust over both sides of the fish. Heat the remaining oil in anon-stick frying pan in which all the fish will lie flat, over high heat. When the oil is very hot, add the fish and fry for 2 minutes on each side. Remove the fish carefully with a slotted spoon.
- Place the fish in an earthenware dish in which it lays flat and dot with tomato sauce. Cut the remaining orange into slices. Sprinkle the olives around the fish and arrange the orange slices over the top. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Serve very hot straight from the dish, sprinkled with the remaining torn basil.
- Bon Appétit!
