Spiced Coley and Potato Bake

In conjunction with Sainsbury’s, I developed this recipe to show that there are other fish varieties out there to try – and in turn help protect over fished varieties such as Cod, Salmon, Tuna, Haddock and Prawns. Sainsbury’s are the UK’s largest retailer of MSC certified sustainable seafood so you can buy with confidence – something I find quite hard to know wrong from right at the best of times!

How often do you try a new fish variety? I must admit that we don’t eat much fish – I love it but am very bad at remembering to put it on the shopping list. It doesn’t keep very long and our freezer space is limited and I hate wasting anything so its not often we do actually buy it. And when I do I have been buying prawns and salmon etc..so its high time I switch my fish as I would like to eat it in the future too!

Initially when I think of Coley for some reason I was a little dismissive, I think I ate it once in a rather naff Italian restaurant several years back and didn’t really enjoy it… and it wasn’t admittedly on my list to buy when I popped into Sainsbury’s as I really wanted the whole Lemon Sole, however there was only one left – not enough to feed both of us and so we went with the Coley and I put my thinking cap on! My boyfriend was fancying potatoes and so whatever I made, it would involve potatoes.. after buying the fish at the deli counter, we also decided to get some of my favourite olives from the other counter and whilst there was talked into trying, and buying some very tasty Etruscan Pepperoni. I've done the spiced meat n fish combo before and rather liked it and thought it would be worth a try with the Coley and so a few slices slipped into the trolley too!

Once home I had a root through the fridge and decided on creating a Mediterranean type dish – I love baking fish along with other ingredients and decided to treat the Coley with the same affection..

Not being super at judging measurements I wasn’t too sure how much Coley to buy and had ended up buying two rather large sides of Coley, however once home I realised it was a bit too much and froze one side for another time! Despite being assured it was fully filleted I did find a few bones, fortunately I keep a pair of old sharp tweezers handy just for this task!

Ingredients:

250g Coley cut into two halves

385g baby potatoes, halved length way's (you probably wont need this many but B loves potatoes so I did extra!)

Half a large yellow pepper, halved and sliced

8 green olives, sliced

2 tbsp olive oil

Half large red onion, sliced thinly

½ tbsp dried oregano

2 pats lemon herb butter from the fish counter

2 slices Etrusan Pepperoni or similar spicy sausage, sliced into 3 pieces each

S&p to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 210o (my oven is slow – be cautious!)

Line a large roasting tray with baking paper, scatter over the onion and pepper, drizzle with half the olive oil and roast for 15 minutes

Meanwhile boil the potatoes for 10 minutes or until just tender, and drain.

Remove the tray from the oven, nestle in the potatoes, top with the fish fillets, and place the pepperoni slices across the fish – if you have any leftover bits just scatter in the tray. Halve each butter pat and place either side of the fish. Sprinkle over the oregano, season with salt and pepper, scatter the olives and drizzle the remaining olive oil over everything.

Roast for a further 20-25 minutes or until the fish is cooked through – it will flake easily.

Serve with lemon buttered and seasoned Kale. 

At Sainsbury's right now you can save 20% off until the 1st of April across the lesser known species so its a great time to try something new!

Many thanks to Sainsbury's for providing inspiration and vouchers to cover the ingredients and my time