Baked sole on couscous

The local Save-on always has deals and H loves snapping them up. Yesterday he came home with a pack of fresh sole fillets (and a beautiful pineapple that I have grand plans for, but that's a story for another time). I've experimented with sole back when I was living in Hong Kong and I never got really good results. Always the fish, once cooked, was either tasteless or too salty. Maybe because there never seemed to be fresh sole to be had so I was making do with frozen.

But this fresh sole is a revelation. It's mild and delicate. There were a few things I could have done with it...I could have pan fried it and doused it with a lemon butter sauce. I think it would also be good simmered gently in some Philippine coconut milk* and given some heat with a few sliced red siling labuyo and whole sili leaves added, both for taste and colour.

As I'm out of coconut milk but had plenty of olives, I made a tomato and olive based dish that was ready to pop into the oven in no time at all. Temperatures outside are currently hitting 30 C. Somehow, I don't really want to be frying when the weather is warm, but I don't mind firing up the oven.

H and I ate this over couscous. It was light and delicious and summer-perfect.

Baked sole with olives on couscous

Season 6 fillets of sole with salt and pepper.

Using a food processor, make a paste using a cup of chopped black olives, 2 tbsp olive oil, some fresh basil and parsley. Or just chop everything up finely.

Preheat oven to 350.

Make the tomato sauce base by sauteeing some garlic for a few minutes and then adding a 375 ml can of tomato sauce or canned tomatoes, sauce included. Salt to taste. Pour this mixture on a baking dish.

Drop a spoonful of the olive mixture on the sole near the tail/narrow end, and roll up the fish snugly. Repeat for all six fillets.

Arrange the sole on top of the tomato sauce and brush a little olive oil on the exposed surface of the fillets. Bake 15 minutes until fish is done. Serve over couscous or rice with maybe a chiffonade of basil, parsley or coriander or a drizzle of pesto.

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Before baking:



After the bake (the yellow stuff is some lemon zest I added at the last minute, but it's really purely optional):



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* Why is it that Thailand exports so much coconut milk or cream compared to the Philippines? I was under the impression that the Philippines has historically exported coconuts. But overseas supermarkets invariably only stock Thai coconut milk, both the powder and liquid kinds.