Fish a'la greek that no Greek ever heard about (Polish Christmas food #1)

Have you ever heard of "fish a'la Greek"? Well, for sure if you're Polish and almost certainly no if you're Greek! Nobody knows how name of this dish was developed, but it's widely known in Poland. It's also one of the twelve traditional Christmas dishes in many houses, including mine.
Fish a'la Greek is light, delicious and aromatic dish, that is great not only for Christmas! It's made with fish fillets fried and then braised or mixed with vegetable sauce.
Christmas season has started - this is a first recipe of more to come - we'll be celebrating Polish style, so join me!

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cod or pollock fillets (or other fish of your choice) - fresh or frozen
• 4 carrots
• 2 parsley roots (optional)
• 3 leeks (white to light-green part)
• 1 small celery root or few celery leaves
• 4 onions
• 500ml tomato paste
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 4-5 allspice seeds
• salt, pepper
• a little bit of sugar
• oil for frying
• few spoons of flour
• 1/2 glass water

Grate carrots on a large grid grater and cut leeks into slices. Cut onions in halves and slice them too.
Preheat a pan with a little bit of oil and add onion. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and fry for about 3 minutes. Add leeks and carrots, add more salt and pepper to taste. Lower the heat, cover the pan and let vegetables to simmer for about 5 minutes. If necessary - add some water.

If you're using frozen fillets - partialy defrost them - not completely, because they might fall apart while being fried. Cut them in 5 cm pieces, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Preheat another pan with some oil. Coat fish fillets in a flour and fry until golden on both sides. Make sure your pan is really hot, to avoid fish sticking to it and falling apart.

Put your vegetables into a pot, add bay leaves, allspice, tomato paste, a little bit of sugar. Add some water. Braise on a low heat, stirring once in a while, until most of the liquid evaporates.

When all the veggies are soft, there are few ways to finish off your dish - either add fried fish fillets into a pot and mix them in gently, or layer them: on a plate put some of the vegetable sauce, then place layer of the fish and another layer of sauce. Vegetable layer should be also on top.  Serve warm or cold - both ways it tastes great! Fish a'la Greek gains taste in time, so it's best to make it some time before serving - give it few hours or even a day!

You can also serve it, like I did this time (a little unorthodox way!) - layer of vegetables and then fish fillets on top of it. Decorate with parsley leaves and enjoy! It tastes great with some fresh bread or rice. 

Bon appetite!