With Lent soon approaching fish dishes will become front and center and although there are multiple ways to cook fish, this is one of my favorites, cod fish made cacciatore style.
Cacciatore means hunter in Italian and it refers to a meal prepared hunter-style, usually in a pan with tomatoes, vegetables, herbs, wine and other things.
There are numerous chicken cacciatore recipes if you search for them, I even have one here on my blog, but this recipe is changed up by using fish, fresh wild caught cod.
Actually you can use any firm white fish, I just like using cod because it’s readily available in my area and also reasonably priced and super delicious.
The cod poaches in a full-bodied sauce and the fish takes on all that delicious flavor in every bite.
Crusty bread is a must for sopping up those juices but you might also want to serve this with pasta, rice or potatoes as well.
I opted for some roasted asparagus to keep it on the lighter side but believe me I’ve had it with angel hair pasta and it’s amazing!
- 1½ lbs. of fresh wild caught cod, or other firm white fish cut into 3 inch chunks and patted dry
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
- 1 yellow bell pepper, sliced into strips
- 1 onion, sliced
- 4 cloves chopped. garlic
- 6 or 7 campari tomatoes ( they're the size of a golf ball, if you can't find them use grape tomatoes to match equivalent size. You just want to use fresh tomatoes and have enough so that the fish can nestle in among the veggies and when it cooks down creates a sauce, large chop the tomatoes
- tomato paste, a good 2 or 3 tablespoons
- red pepper paste for heat, (optional) according to your heat level or some a pinch of red pepper flakes
- olives, kalamata or castelvetrano your desired amount
- 2 tablespoons, capers
- dry white wine, a good splash
- broth, to even out sauce
- fresh chopped basil, parsley and thyme
- olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- In a heavy bottomed pan drizzled with olive oil, add the peppers, onions, garlic, sauté til softened.
- Add a good squeeze of tomato paste and optional red pepper paste or pepper flakes onto the veggies.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Splash in the white wine and incorporate it with the veggies and let it cook down for a minute.
- Add the tomatoes, capers, olives, herbs and a little broth, and let it simmer til tomatoes break down and thicken up, taste for seasoning adding more of what you like, if too thick, add some broth, or too thin add more tomatoes.
- When sauce has thickened up and pretty much finished cooking add the fish and nestle it all around spooning some of the sauce on each piece.
- Simmer and slightly cover the pan, fish cooks quickly, when it looks opaque it's done.
- Sprinkle with more of the herbs for garnish.
- Serve alone with crusty bread, green veggie, pasta, rice or potatoes.
I’m Marie, a wife, mother, mother-in-law, and gramma of two beautiful girls. My passion is food, clear and simple but especially Italian food, hence the name of my blog, Proud Italian Cook. I want you to feel right at home here so grab a cup of coffee, I’ll get the pastries, take a look around and enjoy your visit! {
