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After buying a load of cooking tomatoes (or rather bruised you might say   ), I was wondering what to do with them as these tomatoes were no good for salad.  I then had the idea of turning them into a home  made tomato sauce.  I also had some lovely fresh haddock fillets and decided the two would go together to make a delicious fish dish

Ingredients:

• 600g firm white fish (I used haddock)
• 6oog fresh tomatoes (or the same volume of good quality tinned tomatoes)
• 2 medium onions
• 1 clove of garlic – optional
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• seasoning
• 1 medium sized red pepper
• Tabasco – optional
• 2 tsps balsamic vinegar – optional

Method:

1. Roast the red pepper in hot oven (coat the pepper with a little oil and roast it on a tray) for about 20 minutes, allow to cool and then cut into chunky strips.
2. Chop up the tomatoes (if you are posh you will remove all the seeds and the skins, but I couldn’t be bothered so I didn’t!)
3. Wash the fish and pat it dry using paper towels.  Make sure you get the fish monger to skin and bone the fish first (only if you are buying from a kosher fish monger otherwise you have to do this yourself)
4. Chop the onion into dice and leave the garlic clove whole but remove the outer skin.
5. Fry the onion and garlic (only if you are using the garlic of course) until clear and then add the tomato purée.  Cook the onion and tomato puree until this has darkened in colour to release the natural sugars.
6. Now add the fresh tomatoes (or tinned) and cook on a medium heat for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally.
7. Add the bay leaves and seasoning, plus a few drops of Tabasco if using, and the roasted peppers.  Cook for another 5-7 minutes on a medium heat.
8. In a shallow baking dish  ladle in half the tomato sauce.  Place the fish fillets on top of the sauce and then cover with the rest of the sauce.
9. Cover the dish with foil or with a lid, and bake the fish for 20 minutes on a medium to high heat.
10. Serve with potatoes (mashed or just rolled in a little butter) and peas.