Miss the sunny shores of the Mediterranean? Then make our Mediterranean Fish Gratin! This dish is a brilliant fusion of flavours, combining various types of fish with aromatic herbs and a subtle hint of fennel seeds. As it bakes to perfection in individual ramekins, the panko breadcrumb and Parmesan topping add that irresistible golden touch. It's delicious, and not too heavy on calories either!
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Why You'll Love Mediterranean Fish Gratin
- We consider this Baked Fish in Tomato sauce one of our healthy recipes when we try to be good and eat clean.
- One of our favourite recipes to make for dinner parties: the individual portions of Fish Gratin look very elegant on the plates.
- It may not be a meal for the whole family, but fennel and celery add a certain adult-pallet quality that will impress!
- This recipe freezes well, so can be made up to 3 months in advance, then frozen, thawed, topped with breadcrumbs and baked on the day you wish to serve it.
- It works with a variety of fish (fresh or frozen), so you can mix it up every time you make it!
Love Cooking Fish For Dinner?
We have a big collection of our favourite fish recipes, so we hope we can tempt you to try some of them next! Here are some great recipes to get you started:
- Panko Crusted Fish (or Pecan Crusted Fish)
- Smoked Haddock Gratin
- Homemade Fish Burger With Tartar Sauce
- Lemon Butter Baked Salmon
Ingredients
- olive oil: or you can melt butter in the pan, and saute the vegetables in butter for extra decadence.
- red onion: can be replaced with shallots or a couple of spring onions.
- celery stick: can be replaced with about ¼ of a large fennel bulb.
- garlic cloves: peeled and thinly sliced.
- fennel seeds: or ground fennel. If you don't like the aniseed flavour, you may skip this ingredient.
- red wine vinegar: may be substituted with other types of vinegar or twice the amount of lemon juice.
- tinned chopped tomatoes: if you like a smooth sauce, you may use tomato passata. You can also get tinned tomatoes with herbs (in this case, just skip the herbs in this recipe).
- tomato purée: also known as tomato paste.
- mixed dried herbs: like oregano, parsley, basil and thyme. You may also use Italian seasoning.
- fresh parsley: finely chopped.
- skinless fish fillets: read about the types of fish to use and avoid in the section below.
- parmesan: or other hard cheese, like Grana Padano or Pecorino Romano.
- panko bread crumbs: you may use homemade breadcrumbs, but make sure they are dry, as you want them to add a bit of crunch to the dish.
What Fish To Use and What Fish To Avoid
Whilst a variety of fish can be used successfully in this Fish Gratin, our go-to types of fish for this delectable dish are snapper, basa, pollock, cod, haddock and salmon! We typically use white fish fillets alongside wild salmon.
When selecting your fish, remember that their shape provides thick cuts from the main body and slender slices towards the tail. Aim for those robust 2cm/0.8″ thick cuts to avoid the fish drying out in the cooking process.
Fish varieties that tend to dry out easily when cooked-such as swordfish, tuna and mackerel-are best left for other recipes. Similarly, oily and "fishy" fish like mullet and sardines are not going to work in this fish au gratin recipe either, as their strong taste will overpower other flavours.
Whilst you can use fresh fish, a great way to make this recipe cheaper is to use thawed frozen fish fillets. We made it a couple of times with frozen fish and haven't noticed a significant difference (but make sure to get high quality frozen salmon).
Method
Heat olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the onions, celery and crushed fennel seeds and saute on low heat for 6 minutes. Then add the garlic and cook for another few minutes.
Add the tinned chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, mixed dried herbs and vinegar to the pan. Stir and leave it on a gentle simmer for 10 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. Season with a little salt and pepper and stir chopped parsley into the sauce.
In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200° C Fan. Dab your fish with a piece of paper towel and cut it into large chunks. Small pieces will overcook and become very dry.
Once the sauce is thick, add the fish pieces, cover with the lid and carry on cooking for 4-5 minutes. Do not stir the sauce at this point - you want to keep the fish chunks whole.
Spoon the fish stew into 350 ml ramekins or a pie dish.
In a medium bowl, mix together grated parmesan and breadcrumbs. Season with a pinch of salt and black pepper. If you wish, you can grate half of the lemon zest into the breadcrumb topping too for extra flavour.
Scatter the mixture on top of the fish gratin and pop them in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
TIP: Place them on a baking tray or a piece of foil to avoid the sauce bubbling over and making a mess in your oven.
Your fish au gratin should be bubbling on the edges and the breadcrumb topping should be golden brown.
Watch How To Make It
What To Serve Fish Gratin With?
- Hasselback new potatoes
- Italian Salad With Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes
- Crisp green salad, like Courgette Ribbon Salad
- Tenderstem Broccoli (Broccolini) With Garlic and Lemon
- Dry White Wine (Pinot Grigio or Spanish Rioja Blanco are both a perfect pairing)
Other Mediterranean Recipes To Try
Here are some of our Mediterranean recipes that we hope will have your tastebuds dancing!
Italian recipes:
Spanish recipes:
Greek recipes:
Fish Gratin
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small red onion finely chopped
- 1 celery stick thinly sliced
- 1 garlic clove thinly sliced
- ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds crushed
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes 1 tin
- 1 tablespoon tomato purée
- 1 tablespoon mixed dried herbs
- 10 g parsley finely chopped
- 300 mixed skinless fish fillets cut into chunks
- 20 g finely grated parmesan
- 30 g panko breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the onions, celery and crushed fennel seeds and saute on low heat for 6 minutes. Then add the garlic and cook for another few minutes.
- Add the tinned chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, mixed dried herbs and vinegar to the pan. Stir and leave to simmer gently for 10-15 minutes, until the sauce is thick and concentrated. Season with salt and pepper and stir chopped parsley into the sauce.
- In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200 C Fan.
- Once the sauce is thick, add the fish pieces into it, cover with the lid and carry on cooking for 5 minutes. Do not stir the sauce at this point - you want to keep the fish chunks whole.
- Spoon the fish stew into 350 ml ramekins or a pie dish.
- In a medium bowl, mix together grated parmesan and breadcrumbs. Season with a pinch of salt and black pepper.
- Scatter the mixture on top of the fish gratin and pop them in the oven for 20 minutes.
- TIP: Place them on a baking tray or a piece of foil to avoid the sauce bubbling over and making a mess in your oven.
Video
Nutrition
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