Chef Dimitra
Aegean Island Chtapodi me Kritharaki (Χταπόδι με Κριθαράκι)
Aegean island octopus, tomato, red wine, and toasted kritharaki share one pot, so the pasta drinks the briny sauce and stays glossy instead of turning heavy.
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Aegean Coast Psari Plaki (Ψάρι Πλακί)
Created by
Aegean coast psari plaki is the quiet whole-fish bake: onions and tomato softened first, fish laid on top, and olive oil doing its slow work until the bones release cleanly.
Main Dishes
Greek
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
25 min
Active Time
55 min cook•1 hr 20 min total
Yield4 servings
Psari plaki of the Aegean coast is a whole-fish bake laid over onions, tomato, parsley, and olive oil, the kind of pan that makes a modest fish feed a table. It is not a fish drowned in sauce. The onions melt, the tomato thickens, and the fish stays itself, sweet at the bone, with enough pan juices for bread.
The method that decides it is simple: cook the onion and tomato bed before the fish goes in. Fish cooks quickly. Raw onions do not. If you put everything in the pan at once, the fish waits too long and dries while the sauce catches up, poor thing. Give the vegetables their head start, then bake the fish just until the flesh releases cleanly.
The region is the dish's surname, so I keep this Aegean-coast version spare: no cream, no cheese, no show. Good olive oil, and patience. It belongs beautifully to the fish-allowed days of Lent, when the table is plain but not mean, and it is weeknight food if your fishmonger has done the cleaning.
On the Aegean islands and coastal Attica, plaki names a shallow-pan bake in which fish or vegetables cook under onion, parsley, tomato, and olive oil. The word is linked to Turkish plak, a flat plate or tray, while the red tomato version became common only after tomatoes spread through Greek kitchens in the nineteenth century. In the Orthodox calendar, fish appears during Great Lent only on the permitted fish days, especially Annunciation and Palm Sunday, so psari plaki belongs to those lean holiday tables more than to the strict daily fast.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
whole white fish (psari)
Quantity
2 fish, about 600g each
scaled, gutted, and patted dry
fine sea salt
Quantity
10g
divided
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
divided
extra virgin Koroneiki olive oil
Quantity
120ml
divided
yellow onions
Quantity
500g
thinly sliced
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
thinly sliced
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
30g
stems finely chopped and leaves roughly chopped
ripe tomatoes, or canned whole peeled tomatoes
Quantity
900g fresh or 800g canned
grated or crushed
dry white wine or water
Quantity
120ml
bay leaves
Quantity
2
dried Greek oregano (rigani)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
salted capers (kapari) (optional)
Quantity
30g
rinsed
lemon
Quantity
1
cut into wedges
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole white fish (psari)scaled, gutted, and patted dry | 2 fish, about 600g each |
| fine sea saltdivided | 10g |
| freshly ground black pepperdivided | 1/2 teaspoon |
| extra virgin Koroneiki olive oildivided | 120ml |
| yellow onionsthinly sliced | 500g |
| garlic clovesthinly sliced | 4 |
| flat-leaf parsleystems finely chopped and leaves roughly chopped | 30g |
| ripe tomatoes, or canned whole peeled tomatoesgrated or crushed | 900g fresh or 800g canned |
| dry white wine or water | 120ml |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| dried Greek oregano (rigani) | 1 teaspoon |
| salted capers (kapari) (optional)rinsed | 30g |
| lemoncut into wedges | 1 |
Equipment Needed
- •shallow metal tapsi or ceramic baking dish, about 35 x 25cm
- •wide saute pan, 28cm
- •instant-read thermometer, optional
Instructions
- 1
Season the fish
Heat the oven to 190C. Pat the fish dry, then make three shallow slashes on each side, down to the bone but not through it. Season inside and out with 6g of the salt and half the pepper. Let the fish stand while you make the onion and tomato bed.
- 2
Soften the onions
Warm 80ml of the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Add the onions and 2g of the salt, then cook for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until the onions are soft, sweet-smelling, and just beginning to take color. Add the garlic and parsley stems and cook for 1 minute.
- 3
Reduce the sauce
Stir in the tomatoes, wine or water, bay leaves, oregano, capers if using, the remaining 2g salt, and the remaining pepper. Simmer for 12 to 15 minutes, until the sauce is glossy and a spoon leaves a brief track through it. This is the step that decides the dish: the onions and tomato must be good before the fish enters. Fish cooks fast. It is not there to finish raw sauce.
If the tomatoes are very watery, give them 5 more minutes now. Once the fish is baked, the sauce's chance has passed. - 4
Build the pan
Spread the onion and tomato mixture in a shallow tapsi or baking dish. Lay the fish on top and spoon a little sauce over the backs, leaving some skin visible so it can take color. Drizzle with 30ml of the remaining olive oil. If the pan looks dry at the edges, add 60ml water around the fish.
- 5
Bake until tender
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, basting once with the pan juices. The fish is done when the flesh at the thickest part turns opaque and lifts cleanly from the bone, or when an instant-read thermometer reaches 63C near the bone. Do not chase a darker top. Dry fish is not a virtue.
Don't flip a whole fish in the pan. It will break, and nothing is gained. - 6
Rest and finish
Let the fish rest in the pan for 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaves, scatter the parsley leaves over the top, and drizzle with the final 10ml olive oil. Serve with lemon wedges.
- 7
Serve the plaki
Lift the fillets gently from the bones and spoon plenty of onion-tomato sauce alongside. Bread is not optional in spirit, even if you pretend it is. The pan juices are half the supper.
Chef Tips
- •Buy the fish first, then decide dinner. Clear eyes, firm flesh, clean sea smell. If the fishmonger has no good whole fish, use thick cod or hake steaks and shorten the bake by a few minutes. The right method on tired fish still gives you tired fish.
- •Tomatoes tell the calendar. In August, grate ripe ones. In February, open good canned whole tomatoes and don't apologize.
- •For Lent, tell the truth: this is for the fish-allowed days, especially Annunciation and Palm Sunday. On stricter days, the same plaki bed belongs under gigantes, potatoes, or cauliflower.
- •Leftovers are good at room temperature with bread. Reheat gently, covered, so the sauce loosens and the fish doesn't tighten.
Advance Preparation
- •Ask the fishmonger to scale and gut the fish the same day you cook it.
- •Cook the onion-tomato bed up to 1 day ahead, chill it, then bring it back to a simmer before baking with the fish.
- •Salt the fish 15 to 30 minutes before baking; longer is not needed for whole fish this size.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 450g)
Calories
535 calories
Total Fat
33 g
Saturated Fat
5 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
28 g
Cholesterol
100 mg
Sodium
1400 mg
Total Carbohydrates
24 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
12 g
Protein
35 g
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