Recipe: Roasted Fish with Olives

by John Ryan

Roasted Fish with Olives
...Using the Grill Like an Oven

Serves 2

This a delicious winter recipe that uses goes outside particularly well. I encourage you to use a flavorful olive such as Kalamata. These days you can often find these olives already pitted.

1 thick filet, about 12 ounces, snapper or sea bass or halibut—skin left on
Olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons fresh minced rosemary (1 teaspoon dried)
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup white wine
6 black olives, pitted and sliced

1. Start the coals. Smear the fish all over with olive oil and lay it a baking dish* skin down. Mince the garlic and rosemary together and sprinkle over the fish. Salt and pepper liberally.

2. When the coals are ready (or the gas grill is hot or the oven is heated to about 450 degrees F), put the pan on the grill rack and cover the grill. Bake for about 5 minutes or until the fish is half done, then pour the wine over the fish and scatter the sliced olives over and around the fish. Cover the grill and bake another 5 minutes or until the fish flakes apart.

3. Put the fish on a platter and cut into serving size pieces. Spoon the pan juices and olives over the fish and serve.

Notes

*The right baking dish: You want a pretty heavy dish. A flimsy metal pan will warp and a glass baking dish may crack on a grill. I use an enameled dish that weighs a ton. Also, choose a dish that is only slightly larger than the fish, otherwise, the pan juices will completely evaporate.

Timing will vary depending on how hot your grill is and how thick the fish is. The more you grill and the more you make this dish, the better you'll get at timing it.