Guest Recipe: Buridda

(adapted from Biba Caggiano's "Trattoria Cooking")

Well, it's been a heckuva long time, hasn't it? Where did last week go? One minute I was making lentil soup, then I was having a disastrous experience making homemade gnocchi (still haven't decided whether or not to post that one...there was promise in it, I tell you!), and then it was the next weekend and my parents were in town which means...I still didn't cook! However, it also means that the blog gets the benefit of another delicious guest recipe from my father via Biba Caggiano. (By the way, happy Father's Day to my wonderful pa!)

Ooh, and it's a good recipe, too. Like the baked cod, it's one of those impressive-looking, impressive-tasting dishes that can serve a group with little hassle or mess. The hardest part was cleaning the shrimp, and heck, you could even buy them pre-cleaned and skip that step. So, definitely put this one on the list.

Here's how it goes:
2-3 white onions, sliced
Olive oil, black pepper, salt
7 or so ounces whole peeled tomatoes from a can (San Marzano preferred), chopped up a bit
3 filets mahi-mahi (or halibut, sea bass, haddock, or similar fish)
1/2 pound bay scallops
1/2 pound shrimp
Anchovy paste (or real anchovies)
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped/minced
Fresh parsley as garnish
Crusty bread, warmed

Preheat the oven to 375.

Pool a little olive oil in a frying pan. Slice your onions into the olive-oiled pan and turn the heat to medium. Add a little ground pepper and a pinch of salt, then turn heat down a bit and cover the onions to caramelize. (Stir them occasionally until they turn soft and golden brown, about 20 minutes.) About 5 minutes before they're done, add garlic and a few squeezes of anchovy paste and cook those in as well.

Prepare a casserole dish by drizzling the bottom with olive oil, then adding about 1/3 the tomatoes. Layer on about 1/3 the onions. Next, place the fish filets on top of the onions, then arrange the scallops and the shrimp to either side of the filets. Layer all of this again with the remaining tomato and then the remaining onion, covering all the fish and seafood. Add a pinch of ground pepper.

Pop in the over and cook until the mahi-mahi is white and flaky, about 30+ minutes.

Garnish with a little fresh parsley, and serve with crusty bread for dipping.