Provencal Broiled Fish & Potato Gratin

I'm really not big on French food. As far as cuisines go, I find the fare typically quite bland, void of spice and too rich. But I've been watching a lot of Jacques Pepin lately and I have discovered one thing that I truly love about French food - the ability to make really simple, rustic dishes that sound way fancier than they are. 

Exhibit A: Provencal Broiled Fish & Potato Gratin. 

Take away the fancy words and you have what the dish really is: broiled fish and potatoes. This recipe really wasn't that special and didn't photograph too beautifully, but the flavors well made up for presentation. Very simply, easy and delicious!

Provencal Broiled Fish & Potato Gratin Recipe:

• 2 - 3 lbs potatoes sliced thinly (I used 1 large sweet potato and a couple cups of fingerling potatoes)
• 1/2 yellow onion, sliced thinly
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• salt, black pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil or more (be generous)
• 1/3 cup chicken stock
• 2 tomatoes, sliced thinly
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 3 tilapia fillets (I recommend a better fish with the skin attached, but hey this is what we had)
• 1 lemon, sliced and juiced
• salt, black pepper, dash of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• spoonful of capers + 2 tbsp caper juice
• fresh parsley, minced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place all of your potatoes, onions and garlic in a large gratin dish (about a 9x13 baking pan). Drizzle olive oil over the vegetables and toss with salt and pepper until evenly coated. Pour in the chicken stock and top with tomato slices. Bake in oven for about 50 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. While that's baking, marinate your fish with lemon, seasonings, olive oil, capers and parsley. 

When the potatoes are finished, pour the wine into the pan, place the fillets on top with all the marinade juices and place under the broiler for about 8 minutes. DO NOT put on the very top rack too close to the broiler; choose the second rack. If your potatoes are already looking too brown, drizzle some more olive oil on top before broiling. After about 8 minutes, if the fish is not to your preferred doneness, turn the oven off and let it sit in there for 5 minutes to finish cooking. Remove from oven, let sit for a few minutes and serve!