I can’t tell you how much I love love LOVE baked fish! Especially if it’s a meaty white fish like cod or basa. In my early days of baking fish, I would just season it with salt & pepper and maybe add some sort of acid (balsamic vinegar, orange juice, or lemon juice). While I still love the simplicity of that, sometimes it’s nice to add a little oomph to make it a special meal.

So here’s a fairly quick recipe for a Mediterranean style baked fish. I made this with Basa but it can be made with any kind of white flesh fish (or even snapper).

 

Directions

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  1. Pre-heat oven to 180C.
  2. In a bowl, prepare the lemon mixture — lemon juice, olive oil, and melted butter.
  3. In a separate bowl, prepare the flour coating — flour and all the spices.
  4. Pat dry the fish fillets with a paper towel and cut into medium-sized pieces.
  5. Using a fork, dip the fish in the lemon mix, lift it out and give it a quick shake to remove excess drip, and place in the flour mixture to coat. Do this for all the fish.
  6. In the remaining lemon mix, add the crushed/minced garlic.
  7. Heat a large frying pan and drizzle about 2 tbsp of olive oil. Fry fish on high heat to attain a golden crisp colour on both sides (the fish does not need to be cooked through). This ensures the coating gets a nice colour and doesn’t go soggy during the baking process.
  8. Arrange the fish in an oven-proof baking dish.
  9. Evenly pour over the remaining lemon mixture.
  10. Sprinkle with capers.
  11. Bake uncovered for 10 minutes (I use the oven + grill option).
  12. When the fish is out of the oven, garnish with fresh coriander leaves.
  13. Serve with jasmine rice, coconut rice, cauliflower rice, couscous, or on its own. In the photo here I’ve served it with pearl couscous.