Blue Eye With Caper and Dill Sauce

Apart from the health advantages, and the fact it tastes so good, fish are also what I turn too when I need something fast for dinner. Something good that does not involve hours in the oven or on the stove; something that does not need overnight marinating. Something good for days when your daughter fractures her wrist, and you get sent home from the hospital by a casualty nurse who tells you there is nothing wrong. Something good for days when you sit with your daughter back at the hospital the next day so she can be X-rayed, seen by a specialist and plastered, almost from palm to underarm. (Don't worry - she's fine now).

I plucked this dish out of an old-ish Gourmet Traveller (Oct 2006). It comes from the phenomenon that is Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Restaurant, in this case Fifteen Melbourne. I had to dive into the fish shop for some blue eye, and the greengrocers for some dill. Otherwise everything else was in my cupboard. You could make it with any thick-ish fish fillet; for a thinner fillet, just reduce the cooking time so you don't overcook the fish. The sauce is full of flavour against the mildness of the fish. How finely you chop it is up to you - I was happy with chunky, but you could keep going until it is much smoother. A very handy recipe for one of those weeks.

Blue Eye Cod With Caper and Dill Sauce

adapted from Gourmet Traveller, October 2006

4 pieces of blue eye cod (skin on if possible)

Juice and finely grated rind of two lemons

1/3 cup baby salted capers, rinsed

2 cloves garlic

8 anchovy fillets

1/2 bunch of dill

1 small handful of flat-leaf parsely leaves

125 ml extra virgin olive oil

Place blue eye fillets in a bowl and pour over the lemon juice. Swirl the fillets around so they are all covered, and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Meanwhile chop capers, herbs, garlic and anchovies, then place in a bowl with lemon rind and 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, and stir to combine. Season to taste with black pepper.

Remove the blue eye from the lemon juice. Pat dry with absorbent paper and season to taste. Heat remaining olive oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat and cook fish, skin-side down for 3-4 minutes, then turn and cook on the other side for a further three minutes.

Serve the fish with a generous covering of sauce.