Mediterranean Fish Casserole

Many, many years ago I decided that I wasn't eating fish on a regular enough basis and I resolved to eat a fish meal at least once every week.   It didn't take me very long to discover that, even though I had my resolution, weeks would sneak by and I would discover that, once again, I'd not eaten fish for another week.

Reflecting on this, after one particularly long fish free period, I decided on a new resolution.   Every Friday, I would consider whether I had eaten enough fish in the past week, and if not, I would make a fish supper.

Of course, for a fish lover like me, the answer is very rarely, yes I've had enough fish this week.

Today was just such a day.  I considered what fish I had eaten in the past week....  I had a Jacket Potato with a tuna topping, I had a salad with shrimp and surimi in a hot marie rose sauce, and a tuna sandwich for lunch.    Oh only two meals, so No, that's not nearly enough!

I looked around to see what I had.

There were left over shrimp from the salad.

There was also a bag of frozen hake.

I decided to throw together a fish casserole

Now, many of you will know that when I say throw together a dish, that is exactly what I mean, so no accurate measurements for today.

I took 3 fillets of hake out and left them to thaw.

At the same time I also emptied a good handful of tiny cocktail shrimp to drain.

I found a casserole with a good fitting lid.  I didn't want to let too much moisture out whilst the dish was cooking.

The fridge also revealed a good handful of green olives, which I pitted.

In the stock cupboard I had some lemon juice and a bag of Herbes de Provence.

I found a couple of cloves of garlic, which I crushed and peeled.

In the casserole, I first put the hake, cut into about 2" squares.

Then I added the shrimp and the olives

I sprinkled the herbs over and added a splash of olive oil and the zest and juice of a couple of lemons.

It looked ok but a bit dry, so I added just a small splash of cider, (left over from the pork in cider)

Then I put the lid on and put it to cook in a hot (240C) oven for about 30 minutes

Finally, after 30 minutes cooking, I took the lid off, stirred everything and put it back in the oven for a further 10 minutes

I enjoyed it with some sweetcorn.