Baked Fish With Rice-Olive Stuffing (Recipe)

Ingredients

Rice-Olive Stuffing:

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup long grain rice

1 16-ounce can tomatoes, cut cup

1 cup water

1 1/2 teaspoon snipped fresh mint or 1 tablespoon snipped fresh oregano (optional)

2 tablespoon snipped parsley

1 tablespoon snipped fresh dill

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 cup sliced black, green or stuffed olives

Fish:

1 5- to 6-pound whole bass, cod, haddock or sea trout

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 cup thinly sliced onion

1/2 cup snipped parsley

1 to 1 1/2 cups thicken broth

2 tablespoons cooking oil

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Steps

1. Grease a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish.  Set aside.

2. To make the stuffing: In a large skillet, cook and stir the onion and celery in the olive oil about 5 minutes or until tender.  Add the rice, tomatoes, water, mint or oregano (if desired), parsley, dill and pepper.

3. Simmer, covered, about 25 minutes or until the rice is just tender.  Stir in the olives.

4. To prepare the fish: Sprinkle the fish, inside and out, with the salt and pepper.  Stuff the fish with the Rice Olive Stuffing.

5. Preheat the oven to 500°.  Meanwhile, place the onions and parsley in the prepared pan and place the stuffed fish on top.  Pour in 1 cup of the chicken broth.

6 In a small bowl, combine the cooking oil and lemon juice.  Brush the fish with oil-lemon juice mixture.

7. Bake in the 500° oven for 10 minutes.  Then, reduce the oven temperature to 375°; cover and bake for 30 minutes, adding more chicken stock as needed.

8. Uncover and bake about 15 minutes more or until the fish is done (fish flakes easily when tested with a fork).

Tips:

Serving a whole fish is easy when you know the best way to remove the bones.  First, position the cooked fish with the backbone toward you.  Use a table knife and fork to remove the head and tail.  Then make a lengthwise cut just above the backbone from the head to the tail of the fish.  Next, gently loosen the top skin of the fish and peel the skin toward the stomach and away from the fish.  Remove and discard the skin.  Now, carefully lift the top fillet of fish away from the backbone onto a serving plate.  Finally, pull up and discard the backbone and lift the bottom fillet away from the bottom skin.