Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce

Mr P. and I don't eat much meat these days (a throwback to our youthful vego. days perhaps), but we do like a bit of fish.  In fact, we had salmon just the other night, but we don't let that stop us from having fish again :=)  So this time, we went for some good old Aussie barramundi (tho' thinking on it, it was possibly from Vietnam or Thailand).  Though you have to be careful, as some naughty restaurants and seafood mongers like to trick us with cheaper fish.

Oh yes, here we have another recipe from Nagi Maehashi's Dinner.  Good old Nagi!  She never lets us down, with her fabulous recipes.  Sadly her gorgeous pup Dozer died recently (at a ripe old age).  I wonder if she will get another beautiful boy soon?  I keep threatening to get another pup, but Mr P. is not keen.  Two of our pups are buried in the backyard (maybe a tad illegal? Nah, I've checked; go ahead!), just as several of our pets are buried at our previous house.  I wonder if the new owners ever dug them up by mistake? :=)  

lemony, fishy and creamy!

Serves 4:

ingredients:

4 x 180g./6.5 oz skinless white fish fillets (about 1.5 cm thick)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1.5 Tbs very finely minced/chopped French shallots/eschalots

Lemon Cream Sauce:

50g./1.8 oz butter

60 mL (1/4 cup) thickened cream

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 Tbs mustard (Dijon or your fave - I love my homemade wholegrain)

1.5 Tbs lemon juice

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

To serve:

2 tsp parsley, chopped  (seems stingy; maybe you need more - hehehe)

some chives, finely chopped - 1 tsp? - or more if you please

lemon slices

Mashed potato, and some green leaves if you want to feel virtuous

ingredients gathered (ignore the coriander seeds jar)

yep a bit of mustard does the trick!

Method:

On goes your oven to 200C/400F to heat up

Now onto the lemon cream sauce:

Put all the saucy ingredients into a heatproof jug or bowl, so you can microwave for 2 x 30 second bursts (give it a stir after the first 30 seconds!) - you want it wonderfully smooth and combined

And now for the fish: which is going into a baking dish (Nagi says 30 x 20 cm/12 x 8 in)

Season both sides of the fish pieces, and place them in the baking dish, with a bit of space between them

Cast the French shallots over the fish, and pour the sauce over

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or till the flesh flakes easily

Place the fish fillets on serving plates, and give 'em a five minute rest

When the 5 minutes are up, spoon the sauce (that's still lurking in the baking dish) over the fish, sprinkle with the parsley and chives, and serve with lemon slices, mashed potato and some green leaves tossed with a bit of oil and lemon juice (or your fave dressing)

love me some chives :)

lemon cream sauce, heading for the microwave

Notes:

Nagi says to use thick, white fish fillets; I bet you could even use crocodile!  I do love a bit of gummy shark (flake) myself, though not so easy to get in sunny Queensland.  Happily, the GoodFish Sustainable Seafood Guide says they are not endangered which is a good thing (not sure about crocodiles tho!)

fish into the dish, then the shallots and sauce over

chop your parsley in a jug with scissors - so easy!

throw on your lemon slices

and now throw on the parsley!

is that Hagrid overlooking my dinner? :=)