Red Snapper alla Ligure

Ingredients

•     2 medium-sized red snapper, cleaned and scaled (you can use any whole fish for this dish)

•     4 large red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch quarter pieces

•     1 cup of pachino (cherry) tomatoes

•     1/2 cup olive taggiasche (you can use any brined black olives for this)

•     2 tbsp. pine nuts

•     Around 10 cloves of garlic, peeled, left whole

•     Large bunch of flat parsley

•     4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

•     Salt to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. I generally don’t peel red potatoes and left the skins on, they are so thin and not too dirty, but peel them if you prefer. Cut the potato lengthwise into 4 quarters and then cut across into 1/2 inch pieces. Cut tomatoes into quarters and toss together with potatoes, olives, pine nuts, garlic (about 6 whole cloves), olive oil and a pinch of salt.

3. Stuff 2 cloves of garlic in the cavity of each fish along with the parsley leaves, add a pinch of salt and drizzle about a tsp of olive oil inside the cavity. Place fish in the middle of roasting pan and drizzle olive oil on top (I tend to use parchment paper to avoid the mess and to keep my roasting pan from smelling like fish).

4. Spread the potato mix evenly around the fish and place in the middle rack of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes. About half way through the cooking time turn the potatoes so that they will brown on both sides. Bake until the meat is white and flaky and the potatoes are browned and cooked through.

5. When I make this for a lot of people and there isn’t room on the pan for my potatoes, I will roast the potatoes in a separate pan and will put them on the bottom rack making sure to turn them more frequently so that they don’t burn.

6. Clean the fish on a separate plate and in a separate serving bowl toss the potatoes with chopped fresh parsley. Serve immediately.