What’s for dinner? Mediterranean baked fish with tomato and fennel

You’ll need: 15ml olive oil; 1 garlic clove, crushed; 1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced (keep the fronds for garnish); 2,5ml fennel seeds; 2,5ml cumin seeds; 15ml tomato paste; 250ml chopped tomato (use tinned tomato); 150ml chicken or fish stock; 15ml honey; zest of 1 small lemon; a few sprigs of thyme; 300g kingklip or any other firm fish, cut into chunks; 80g feta cheese, cubed; 15g butter; 5ml lemon juice; pinch of chilli flakes; salt and black pepper for seasoning.

How to:

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan on medium heat and add the garlic, sliced fennel, fennel seeds and cumin seeds. Cook for a few minutes until soft.

Add the tomato paste, chopped tomato, stock, honey, lemon zest and thyme. Season with a bit of salt and black pepper and simmer the sauce for about 10 minutes until it thickens.

Divide the sauce between two small oven casseroles. Season the fish and arrange the fish in the sauce. Press the feta pieces around the fish. Spoon a little sauce over the fish and the feta. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until the fish is cooked and the cheese golden brown.

While the fish is in the oven, melt together the butter and add the lemon juice and chilli. Spoon this over the fish as soon as it comes out of the oven. Serve immediately with some bruschetta and garnish with the fennel fronds.

Brush a small amount of olive oil on slices of sourdough bread and toast the bread on a griddle pan until golden and crisp.

* Recipe by Christine Capendale. Image by Anita Reed, Disney Channel