Baked leatherjacket with tomatoes and capers

Hardly any leatherjacket makes it onto restaurant menus, and probably even less into most people’s frying pans, but that’s a real shame as it’s top notch.

Credit: Alan Benson

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 80 ml (⅓ cup) extra virgin olive oil, plus extra, to brush
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbsp salted capers, rinsed, drained
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 400 g can chopped tomatoes
• 2 x whole leatherjacket (500 g each without heads), heads removed, cleaned
• chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve

Instructions

Heat oil in a large ovenproof frying pan, big enough to fit the fish. Add garlic and capers and cook for 3 minutes or until garlic is golden but not burnt. Add wine and cook until nearly all absorbed.

Add tomatoes and cook, stirring, for 10 minutes or until thickened, adding a splash of extra water if it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Score the thickest part of the fish on both sides to help it cook evenly. Brush lightly with extra oil and season with salt and pepper.

Heat a chargrill pan to high and grill fish for 7 minutes on each side, then transfer to pan with warm sauce. Alternatively, place the fish in frying pan on top of sauce, transfer to oven and roast for 10 minutes or until fish is just cooked through. Sprinkle over chopped parsley and serve immediately.

Photography Alan Benson. Food Preparation Tobi Armbruster. Styling Michelle Crawford.

As seen in Feast magazine, October 2014, Issue 36.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.