ROCKFISH IN CARROT AND PEPPER PUREE

Prep time 40 minutes

Active prep time 20 minutes

Special equipment needed – None

Special skills needed – None

Serves 4

This is a fun dish to make.  You can choose your ingredients like you would choose a colored pencil for a drawing.  If you want it to be bright yellow, choose yellow bell peppers and carrots.  If you want it to be red, choose red bell peppers and purple carrots.  To make it a brilliant carroty orange color, choose one red and one yellow bell pepper with orange carrots.  The flavors are just a little sweet to offset a healthy dose of salt and pepper, with a nice hint of lemon.  I make this one in the winter because it feels like it really warms you to the core.  It would work with just about any fish.  I use rockfish because it is cheap, readily available, and tasty.

INGREDIENTS:

4 Tablespoons Olive oil

1 Cup Carrots – chopped

2 Bell peppers – red, orange, or yellow – chopped

1 Large Yellow onion – chopped

3 Cloves Garlic

Juice of 1 lemon

4 rockfish fillets

Salt and Pepper to taste

Parsley for garnish

Heat 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the carrots, bell peppers, onion, garlic, and lemon juice.  Cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.  When the carrots and peppers are softened, remove from heat and blend.  Add water, chicken stock, or veggie stock as needed to thin the mixture.  It should be somewhere between a sauce and a soup.  Salt to taste.  Salt the fish fillets.  Heat the remaining olive oil in a large skillet.  When the oil is hot, add the fish fillets.  Cook for about 3 minutes on each side over medium high heat.  On a plate with a ridge or a shallow bowl, put some of the vegetable puree.  Place the cooked fish on top.  Sprinkle a generous amount of cracked black pepper and parsley over the whole dish.  Serve immediately.