Fish Plaki

breezermom's Note:

Plaki is a Greek method of cooking fish with vegetables. I first had this at a little neighborhood Greek restaurant here in my hometown. It was just around the corner from where I worked, so it was a popular lunch spot. Occasionally we were lucky enough to find this on their lunch specials menu....Lucky us! I recommend using a firm white fish....I use amberjack, grouper, or snapper. If you cut all the bloody pieces out of the fillet, you won't get a fishy taste. The fresher the fish the better! Prep time does not include the soaking/marinating time for frozen fish.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1 cup celery, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 -3 lbs fish fillets
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 medium lemons, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup chablis or 1/2 cup other dry white wine
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup soft breadcrumbs

Directions:

1. If your fish isn't fresh, either soak it in milk for an hour or brush with 1 tbsp water mixed with 1 tbsp lemon juice and let sit for 30 minutes to help remove the fishy taste associated with frozen fish.
2. Saute sliced onion in olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly, until tender. Add tomato and next 5 ingredients; cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid evaporates. Remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Pat the fish fillets dry. Place them in a 13X9X2 inch baking dish; sprinkle with oregano, salt and pepper. Spread the reserved vegetable mixture over the fish; top with lemon slices. Pour the wine and lemon juice over the vegetable mixture; sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
4. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until the fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Cooking time depends on the thickness of the fillets and the heat of your oven! Remove and discard the bay leaf.

Reviews

[FLKeysJen]

A super recipe to show off high quality, freshly-caught fish! The fish is the star here with the lemon, wine and other flavors just complements. Instead of individual filets, I used this for one giant piece of very fresh grouper served family style. If you did need to use thin filets, you may want to decrease the bake time; my thick piece was cooked absolutely perfectly in 35 minutes.

[PaulaG]

By topping the fish with the vegetables, lemon juice and wine it kept it moist and delicious. I had to use sun dried tomatoes because I didn't have fresh on hand. I also omitted the breadcrumbs as I needed to make a gluten free meal. This was very good and something I would not hesitate to make again. Made for Greek Kid-friendly Forum Challenge during ZWT6.