Baked Halibut with Tomato Caper Sauce

I've started my cookbooker challenge!  I have no hope of winning anything during this one as I am so far behind the other reviewers, but I'm doing it for fun and to find some new, healthy recipes that will maybe help me get back down into the size I should be.

As a reminder the cookbooker.com challenge this time is to review the recipes of Martha Rose Shulman.  On page 300 of the book I found a recipe for Baked Halibut with Tomato Caper Sauce. 

Here is a LINK to the recipe on the NY Times website.

There was nothing terribly unusual about how the halibut was cooked, but the sauce really piqued my interest (there's a quarter cup of capers in it) and this time of year I can find lots of tasty tomatoes at my Farmer's Market.

The fish preparation is simple, oil a baking dish, add the fish, season with salt and pepper, drizzle with more oil, top with a slice of lemon and bake.  I forgot to take a picture with the lemon so imagine a lemon slice on top of the fish!

The sauce takes a bit more preparation.  There were things I had done before, like chopping an onion, then a preparation I hadn't done before, mashing garlic in my mortar and pestle until it's a paste.

A quarter of a cup of capers are chopped fine too.  This smelled so good.  I love capers!

The recipe said to use 2 pounds of peeled, seeded tomatoes or a can of tomatoes.  This time of year it would be a sin to use canned tomatoes so I chopped!  I will admit I didn't peel the tomatoes and I don't think it harmed the dish.

I love the smell of sauteing onions and  when garlic is added it's all that much better.  At the same time I was making this dish, I had another of Martha's recipes going, Spicy South Indian Cauliflower.  The kitchen smelled wonderful!

The tomatoes are added and the sauce is seasoned with salt, pepper and a little thyme and simmered until thick.  I took a spoonful and it tasted every bit as good as it smelled!

This is a perfect sauce for fish!  It went beautifully with the mild fish.  The fresh tomatoes gave it a wonderful tomato flavor and it has a perfect saltiness from the capers.  I think this would be delicious on pasta or just as a dipping sauce for bread!  And I love how simple it was to put together.

I served it with the Spicy South Indian Cauliflower and some homemade whole wheat bread.  Delicious!