Chilean Sea Bass over Angel Hair

Last summer, I had so much basil in my garden that I needed to use some before it took over everything else. I also couldn't decide if I was in the mood for fish or pasta, so I came up with a recipe that included a filet of chilean sea bass poached in a mediterranean style tomato sauce with white wine, onions, garlic, and olives. At the end, I tossed in some fresh asparagus that I had in the fridge which was a great addition and a nice way to slide an extra serving of veggies into the meal. I made this again last Sunday night and it turned out to be just as good as I remembered! I served it with the ciabatta toasts that I made for my mediterranean halibut salad recipe and it was absolutely perfect- light, flavorful, healthy, delicious. Cannot wait to make this again and hope you all try it! Also- if you want to be fancy or are serving this for guests, save some fresh chopped basil to sprinkle on top at the end as a garnish. This made 3-4 servings; if you are cooking for more people, then you will want to adjust accordingly.

Ingredients:

-3 tbs olive oil

-1 white or yellow onion, chopped

-3 garlic cloves, minced

-4 ripe roma tomatoes (or 1 small can of diced tomatoes), diced (roma tomatoes are the oval shaped tomatoes that are about the size of your fist)

-1 tbs red pepper flakes

-1 cup white wine (I used a white burgundy but only because I wanted to drink it. Any good white wine is fine)

-zest of 1/2-1 lemon (grated rind)

-1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives (I chopped them in half but you can leave them whole if you'd like. Sometimes I leave them whole but this time I was about to run out and didn't want to open a new jar so they got chopped)

-1/2 bunch asparagus, chopped into 1 inch pieces

-1/4 cup fresh chopped basil

-1 tsp salt (to taste), plus more for the pasta water

-1 12-oz chilean sea bass filet (ask the fishmonger for one from the middle if you can)

-1/2 box angel hair pasta

Directions:

-Salt and Pepper the fish filet. Set aside. Put a pot of water on the stove for the pasta (add  about 3tbs salt). Preheat the oven to 375 if you are making the ciabatta toasts.

-Saute the onions in the olive oil until they are translucent, about 5 minutes. Use a saucepan that has a lid so that you can cook the fish in the sauce with the lid on.

-Add the garlic, chopped tomatoes, and red pepper flakes. Cook for another 5 minutes until the tomatoes are soft.

-Add the white wine and bring to a simmer to cook off the alcohol.

-Add the lemon zest, olives and the asparagus. Cook for about 5 minutes until the asparagus is cooked but still has a little crunch.

-Add salt to taste, if the sauce needs it.

-Place the seasoned fish filet in the pot and cover with some of the sauce. Put the lid on and cook for about 12-15 minutes, or until the fish flakes apart (chilean sea bass is a pretty sturdy fish so you might have to cut off a piece to make sure it is cooked).

-While the fish is cooking: cook the pasta according to the directions on the box and put your toasts in the oven.

-Right before serving, add the fresh chopped basil to the sauce and mix it in.

-Serve a piece of fish with a couple of scoops of sauce over a serving of angel hair pasta, with a ciabatta toast on the side. Enjoy!