Herb baked fish on saffron and tomato potatoes

Hello everyone, well, my annual Sydney Film Festival immersion finished on Saturday with three films. The absolute highlight of the Festival for me was the first one I saw that day, a documentary called Bill Cunningham New York http://billcunninghamnewyork.com/, which was an absolutely charming and fascinating film about this man who cycles around the city, documenting New York fashion, both on the street and at charity galas. It was funny and moving and visually captivating. If you saw the Valentino film last year, or The September Issue, it's a film in the vein of those ones. If it gets a general release, it's another one I highly recommend. The snippets with some obscure diplomat who has a wardrobe full of custom made suits in the most bizarre designs and fabrics is one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen.

This week's recipe is another dish combining two of my favourite things - fish and potato. It is from the June 2010 edition of delicious magazine. In it they use blue-eye. I substituted salmon as I am not huge on blue-eye, but I'm sure you could use whatever fish takes your fancy. I'm not convinced that the inclusion of the tomatoes adds anything so if you can't be bothered with the peeling and seeding, you won't lose anything by leaving them out. The potatoes work really well done this way - they are luscious!

Have a great week.

Love from Jane xx

Herb baked fish on saffron and tomato potatoes

Serves four

What you need:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 250g vine ripened tomatoes, peeled, quartered and seeds removed
• 900g floury potatoes (such as coliban), peeled and cut into 1cm slices
• 300ml vegetable stock
• A good pinch of saffron threads
• 50g unsalted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon chopped flat leaf parsley leaves
• 4 x 200g thick fish fillets

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 220C.
2. Heat the oil in a deep frypan over a medium heat.
3. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for one minute, then add tomato if using, and cook for two minutes until the tomato starts to soften.
4. Reduce the heat to low and add the potato slices, stock, saffron and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
5. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the potato is almost tender.
6. Transfer the potatoes and tomatoes to a baking dish, with the liquid, and season.
7. Stir together the melted butter and chopped herbs, then coat the fish with the herb butter.
8. Place the fish on top of the potatoes and pour over any remaining herb butter.
9. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the fish is cooked to your liking and the potatoes are tender.
10. Spoon the potatoes into warmed bowls and carefully arrange the fish on top and serve.