Slow-cooked sweet peppers with pan-fried fish steaks

Tamara West

Choosing well-priced seasonal peppers and cheaper cuts of fish make this an economical meal. Try serving it with fried up leftover potatoes.

Ingredients

1	Onion, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp	Olive oil
1	Red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3	Garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2	Red peppers, cored, deseeded and sliced into long thin strips (Main)
2	Yellow peppers, cored, deseeded and sliced into long thin strips (Main)
4	Large ripe tomatoes, skins and cored removed and sliced
25 g	Butter
4	Fish steaks, boneless, about 3cm thick (Main)
1 handful	Fresh herbs, snipped chives or torn basil leaves, to finish

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan, add the onion and cook very gently until soft, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and chilli and cook for a further minute.
3. Add the sliced peppers and tomatoes, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, cover and cook over a low heat for 35-40 minutes until the peppers are very soft. Remove the lid for about 5 minutes before the end of cooking if there is too much liquid.
4. Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan over a medium-high heat, drop in the butter and allow to melt. Add the fish steaks and pan-fry for 4 minutes, turning once. (Timing depends on the thickness of the fish, but they keep cooking after removing from the frying pan, so they should still be slightly pink in the centre.)
5. Serve fish steaks atop the slow-cooked peppers and finish with snipped chives or basil leaves.