I love fish and one of my vivid memories as a child was when we used to bake fish on a fire wrapped in soaking wet newspaper. The flavours created from cooking the fish in its own juices are out of this world. My current mission to get my fish-phobic-chorizo-addicted housemate to eat something from the sea inspired this recipe. She nearly ate it, but there was more for me so I couldn’t complain. I’d encourage you to bake fish wrapped up like this with any ingredients you have, its adaptable, super easy and extremely economical.

Ingredients (Serves 1)
1 frozen white fish fillet (I used Morrisons Frozen Pollock £1.70 for 5 fillets)
Around 4cm of chorizo sauce
3 tablespoons of natural yoghurt
25g butter
Salt and Pepper
Corn flour
1 teaspoon of tomato puree
Dried Oregano
Half a teaspoon of Chipotle paste (optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 170 °c/gas mark 3. Place the fish fillet in a small Pyrex dish, baking tray, or large sheet of tin foil. Dice the chorizo into small chunks and place on top of the fish.

Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with oregano and add the tomato puree and chipotle paste if using. Now place a lid on the Pyrex dish or cover the baking tray tightly with tin foil. This recipe can be done by simply wrapping the fish in tin foil, but is likely to leak so be very careful. If you can, place something underneath to catch the juices.

Bake the fish for 30 minutes. Once cooked, pour the juices into a small saucepan pre-heated on a low setting. Add the yoghurt and stir to combine. Season again if necessary and add corn flour half a teaspoon at a time to thicken the sauce. Be careful not to heat the sauce too much as the yoghurt will separate. Once thickened to your liking, plate up the fish and pour over the sauce.

Serve with potatoes and vegetables.

Nick Smith

Photo: Property of bbcgoodfood.co.uk