John's tray-baked haddock with tomatoes, lemons and olives

Friday 27 September at 5:49pm

It's a long-standing British tradition, but could this really be the end of cod and chips? Following an alarming drop in the population of North Sea cod, the Marine Stewardship Council has urged customers to choose more sustainable options for their dinner. So what should we be picking instead?

John Torode’s in the kitchen with his favourite fishy alternative: tray-baked haddock with tomatoes, lemons and olives.

Tray-baked haddock with tomatoes, lemon and olives

Serves: 4

Ingredients

12 cherry and 6 pomodorino tomatoes, halved

2 banana shallots, cut into quarters

150g each of pitted black and green olives

Sourdough bread, torn into pieces

500g jar or tin of butter beans, drained

5 to 6 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 lemon, cut into 4 thick slices

50ml olive oil

4 x 180g hunks of white fish of your choice: Haddock, Pollock, Hake or Coley, skin on.

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Rock salt, to serve

A handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped, to serve or tzatziki.

Method

Heat the oven to oven 200C / Gas 6
In a bowl, mix together the tomatoes, shallots, olives, butter beans, thyme, lemon and half the oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix it altogether. Pour into a baking tray and scatter over the torn sourdough bread. Slide the tray into the hot oven. Leave the veg to roast for 20 minutes - check half way through and gently stir so it browns evenly. The tomatoes will soften, the shallots will roast and brown, and the olives will shrivel and become strong and salty. Take the tray and rest it somewhere safe.
Rub the fish fillets all over with a slice of the lemon and place a piece of fish, skin side up, on top of each slice. Rub the remaining oil over the skin. Slide the tray back into the oven for 10 minutes, no more.
Take the tray out, lift the fish fillet gently onto warm dishes, peel the skin off the fish and throw that away too. Sprinkle the fish with a little rock salt or add a dollop of tzatziki to serve.
Pour the tomato mix into a bowl, and using a fork, sort of squash the tomatoes a little so they become a chunky sauce. Spoon the tomatoes over the fish and scatter over the parsley if you want to be fancy.