Baked fish with chermoula, potatoes, pepper and olives — Moroccan Jewish style

Name: Baked fish with chermoula, potatoes, pepper and olives — Moroccan Jewish style
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Israeli and Mediterranean
Ingredients: 450 g Fresh white fish fillets (hake or Nile perch) (2 thick boneless fillets, 225 g each and 2–3 cm thick, filleted by the fishmonger that day: ask for hake (bakala), meagre (musar) or sea bass (levrak), rather than bland Nile perch; keep the skin if the fillets are less than 2 cm thick); 650 g Potatoes (4 medium waxy potatoes); 150 g Red peppers (1 pepper, cut into 1 cm strips); 300 g Tomatoes, vine or round (2–3 ripe tomatoes, sliced); 25 g Salt-preserved lemons (1/2 preserved lemon: rind only, rinsed, flesh removed, cut into thin strips); 60 g Pitted green olives in brine (about 15 olives, rinsed); 60 g Extra virgin olive oil (30 g for the vegetables, 25 g for the chermoula, 5 g to drizzle over when serving); 40 g Fresh coriander (leaves and fine stems of 1 bunch, washed and checked); 20 g Flat-leaf parsley (leaves of half a bunch, washed and checked); 20 g Garlic (4 cloves); 6 g Sweet paprika (2 tsp); 4 g Ground cumin (1 heaped tsp); 1 g Hot red chilli powder (1 generous pinch; 0.5 g for gentle heat); 120 g Lemon (120 g whole lemon for 50 g juice: 40 g in the chermoula, 10 g to serve; discard the peel and pips); 8 g Fine salt (5 g for the vegetables, 2 g on the fillets, 1 g in the chermoula); 0.5 g Ground black pepper (2 pinches); 100 g Water (to cook the vegetables while covered)

80 min30 min hands-on easy2/5parevefish871 kcalLighter version available

main dishShabbat-friendlyspicyoven-bakedLighter version availableFish-free variation

The baked fish of Moroccan Jewish families in Israel: fillets marinated in a spicy coriander, cumin and lemon chermoula, cooked over potatoes, pepper and preserved lemon that have also been coated in chermoula.

Ingredients for two

450 g	Fresh white fish fillets (hake or Nile perch) 2 thick boneless fillets, 225 g each and 2–3 cm thick, filleted by the fishmonger that day: ask for hake (bakala), meagre (musar) or sea bass (levrak), rather than bland Nile perch; keep the skin if the fillets are less than 2 cm thick
650 g	Potatoes 4 medium waxy potatoes
150 g	Red peppers 1 pepper, cut into 1 cm strips
300 g	Tomatoes, vine or round 2–3 ripe tomatoes, sliced
25 g	Salt-preserved lemons 1/2 preserved lemon: rind only, rinsed, flesh removed, cut into thin strips
60 g	Pitted green olives in brine about 15 olives, rinsed
60 g	Extra virgin olive oil 30 g for the vegetables, 25 g for the chermoula, 5 g to drizzle over when serving
40 g	Fresh coriander leaves and fine stems of 1 bunch, washed and checked
20 g	Flat-leaf parsley leaves of half a bunch, washed and checked
20 g	Garlic 4 cloves
6 g	Sweet paprika 2 tsp
4 g	Ground cumin 1 heaped tsp
1 g	Hot red chilli powder 1 generous pinch; 0.5 g for gentle heat
120 g	Lemon 120 g whole lemon for 50 g juice: 40 g in the chermoula, 10 g to serve; discard the peel and pips
8 g	Fine salt 5 g for the vegetables, 2 g on the fillets, 1 g in the chermoula
0.5 g	Ground black pepper 2 pinches
100 g	Water to cook the vegetables while covered

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan. In a small saucepan, warm 25 g oil over a very low heat with the paprika, cumin and chilli for 30 seconds, stirring: the oil should turn red and fragrant without ever smoking, as burnt paprika turns bitter. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly for 2 minutes.
Finely chop the coriander, including the fine stems, and parsley with a knife; crush the garlic in a garlic press. In a bowl, mix the herbs, garlic, spiced oil, 40 g lemon juice, 1 g salt and pepper to make a moist herb paste that holds on the spoon. Taste: it should have a little heat and smell of cumin. Divide equally between three bowls: one for the vegetables, one for the marinade and one for serving.
Peel the potatoes and cut into 5 mm slices; cut the pepper into 1 cm strips and the preserved lemon rind into thin strips. In the 30 × 25 cm baking dish, use your hands to mix the potatoes, pepper and preserved lemon with the vegetables bowl of chermoula, 30 g oil and 5 g salt, then spread in an even layer. Arrange the tomato slices in the centre to make a bed the size of the fillets, and pour the 100 g water around the edge.
Cover tightly with foil and bake for 25 minutes. As soon as the dish goes into the oven, pat the fillets dry with kitchen paper and salt on both sides with 2 g salt. In a shallow bowl, coat them all over with the marinade bowl of chermoula, cover and refrigerate until they go into the oven 35–45 minutes later, never longer: beyond that, the lemon makes the surface of the fish floury.
After 25 minutes, remove the foil, opening it away from you to release the steam, and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes: the potato edges should turn golden and a knife should pass through without resistance. If there is still resistance, cook for 5 more minutes.
Take out the dish, lay the fillets with their marinade on the tomatoes and scatter the olives around them. Bake uncovered, still at 200°C, for 10–14 minutes depending on thickness: the flesh should turn opaque and separate into still-pearly flakes under a fork, reaching 54–55°C in the centre of the thickest part. Do not cook any longer: the fish will finish cooking as it rests.
Leave to rest out of the oven for 3 minutes. Spoon the uncooked chermoula from the serving bowl over the fillets, drizzle with the remaining 10 g lemon juice and 5 g olive oil. Serve one fillet per person with half the vegetables and cooking juices.

Variants and their steps remain below the recipe.

Fish-free

Fresh white fish fillets (hake or Nile perch) → Boneless skinless chicken thighs (pargiyot) 450 g (4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (pargiyot), 2 per plate, prepared by a kosher butcher)

For a mixed meal, one plate of each, in step 2: before touching the fish or chicken, keep the vegetables bowl intact and divide each of the other two bowls in half, giving fish marinade, chicken marinade, fish serving sauce and chicken serving sauce.
In step 3, divide the vegetables, oil, salt, tomatoes and water equally between two 20 × 25 cm dishes that will sit side by side on the same oven shelf, never one above the other.
In step 4, cover each dish with foil and bake both for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, salt the 2 chicken thighs with 1 g salt and coat with their marinade on a plate, using a fork reserved for the chicken; cover and refrigerate. Do not marinate the fish fillet yet, or it would spend more than an hour in lemon juice.
In step 5, after 25 minutes, take out both dishes. Uncover the chicken dish, add the thighs with their marinade and half the olives, and return to the oven uncovered for 22–25 minutes, until the centre reaches 75°C and the juices run clear. Leave the fish dish covered on the worktop to keep its vegetables hot. Only now pat the fillet dry, salt it with 1 g salt and coat with its marinade using another fork and plate; cover and refrigerate.
In step 6, remove the chicken and keep it covered with foil out of the oven; it will be reheated in step 7. Uncover the fish dish and bake it on its own for 10 minutes, until the potato edges are golden and a knife passes through them. Then add the fillet with its marinade and the remaining olives and bake uncovered for 10–14 minutes, until the centre reaches 54–55°C. Wash and dry the thermometer probe between the chicken and fish: never have uncovered chicken and fish in the oven together.
In step 7, while the fish rests out of the oven for 3 minutes, return the chicken dish, still covered, to the oven for 4–5 minutes to reheat. Then spoon each dish’s own serving bowl of uncooked chermoula over it, with its share of lemon juice and oil; use separate serving spoons for each dish.

Chicken thighs stay juicy in chermoula, where breast meat would dry out: this is the chermoula chicken of the same Moroccan families. For two fish-free plates, use one large dish: place the 4 thighs over the vegetables when uncovering them in step 5, and cook uncovered for 22–25 minutes.

Lighter version

How the taste changes:

More peppers add extra vegetable sweetness alongside fewer meltingly tender potatoes. The chermoula is less rounded and less oily, so the lemon and herbs stand out more clearly.

Extra virgin olive oil : 35 g
Potatoes : 450 g
Red peppers : 250 g

Step 1: warm the spices in 20 g oil. Step 3: use 15 g oil for the vegetables. Step 7: omit the final drizzle of oil.

The same chermoula, with less potato and more pepper (1½ peppers), and 25 g less oil.

On your plate

Recipe

871 kcal · protein 52 g · carbs 65 g · fat 40 g

Quantities per person

225 g Fresh white fish fillets (hake or Nile perch)
325 g Potatoes
75 g Red peppers
150 g Tomatoes, vine or round
12.5 g Salt-preserved lemons
30 g Pitted green olives in brine
30 g Extra virgin olive oil
20 g Fresh coriander
10 g Flat-leaf parsley
10 g Garlic
3 g Sweet paprika
2 g Ground cumin
0.5 g Hot red chilli powder
60 g Lemon
4 g Fine salt
0.25 g Ground black pepper
50 g Water

Fish-free version

947 kcal · protein 56 g · carbs 65 g · fat 47 g

Quantities per person

325 g Potatoes
75 g Red peppers
150 g Tomatoes, vine or round
12.5 g Salt-preserved lemons
30 g Pitted green olives in brine
30 g Extra virgin olive oil
20 g Fresh coriander
10 g Flat-leaf parsley
10 g Garlic
3 g Sweet paprika
2 g Ground cumin
0.5 g Hot red chilli powder
60 g Lemon
4 g Fine salt
0.25 g Ground black pepper
50 g Water
225 g Boneless skinless chicken thighs (pargiyot)

Cooking tips

The chermoula can be made the day before, tightly covered in the fridge, adding the lemon at the last moment to keep its green colour; this leaves just 15 minutes of work. The dish is also good cold or at room temperature, as served for Saturday lunch in Moroccan families: cook on Friday, refrigerate in its dish and take out 30 minutes before serving. For a thin fillet, less than 2 cm thick, allow 8–10 minutes, skin-side down.

Equipment : 30 × 25 cm baking dish, small saucepan, garlic press, foil, kitchen thermometer, for a mixed meal: two 20 × 25 cm dishes that fit side by side on the same shelf, and two sheets of foil

Moroccan Jewish cooking as practised in Israel: fish baked with chermoula over potatoes, pepper, tomatoes and olives.

Baked fish with chermoula, potatoes, pepper and olives — Moroccan Jewish style

Method

Timer

On your plate

Recipe

Fish-free version

Cooking tips

Explore this cuisine

Starters to serve with this dish

Three recipes to try next

Comments and reviews

Share your experience