This recipe is barely that, more just a list of ingredients and a simple cooking technique you adapt to however many servings you need.  As the olives, capers and salami are salty, you won’t need to add any extra salt during the cooking process.

Here’s the procedure for two servings.

Salt the fish fillets with a light sprinkling, and set aside. You could use a seafood seasoning if you prefer, but the genius of this recipe is its simplicity, which allows the fresh flavours to be the star of the dish.

Set a frying pan over medium heat, choosing a pan size that’s just a bit bigger than the fish fillets. Too big, and the liquid will boil off before the fish is cooked. Stainless steel or cast iron is better than a non-stick one.

Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil in the pan. Add the shallot, capers, tomatoes, olives and salami. Squeeze half a lemon into the pan. Add the wine or water to the pan, and stir to mix ingredients. Bring to a boil and lay the fish on top of the ingredients. Cover the pan, making sure it continues to boil quite vigorously. Start checking the fish for doneness after 4 minutes. You want to be able to easily flake the fish with a fork, but you don’t want to overcook it. I found that it’s generally taken about 6 minutes for the fish to be cooked to medium-well doneness. Just slightly undercooked is best, as it will continue to finish cooking for a bit after you remove it from the pan.

You can serve this dish as is, or put some sort of base in the bowl. Polenta, cooked white beans, steamed baby potatoes all work, and some toasted garlic bread on the side is divine to dip into the delicious broth.

Divide the sauce and ingredients between two shallow bowls, and place a fish fillet on top.  Garnish with some finely chopped Italian parsley if you prefer. That’s it!