Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce

• servings: 4 servings
• active time: 5 minutes
• total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

4 x 5-6 oz fish fillets (about 1.5cm / 1/2" thick, skinless and boneless, see note 1)

50g / 4 tbsp unsalted butter

1/4 cup cream, heavy / thickened (See Note 2 for sub options)

1 - 2 garlic cloves (minced)

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

Salt & pepper

1 1/2 tbsp shallots, finely chopped

Fresh parsley and lemon slices (to serve)

Directions

Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F (all oven types).

Place fish in a baking dish - ensure the fish isn't crammed in too snugly. See video or photos in post. Sprinkle both sides of fish with salt and pepper.

Place butter, cream, garlic, mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a microwave proof jug or bowl. Microwave in 2 x 30 sec bursts, stirring in between, until melted and smooth.

Sprinkle fish with shallots, then pour over sauce.

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or until fish is just cooked. Remove from oven and transfer fish to serving plates. Spoon over sauce, and garnish with parsley and lemon wedges if using.

Notes

1. Fish – Any fillets or cutlets/steaks about 1.5 – 2 cm / 1/2 / 4/5″ thick will work great with this because they cook quickly in the oven.

Great for: Ling (pictured), Tilapia, Snapper, Barramundi, Silver Dory, John Dory, Basa, Hokki, Perch, Flathead

OK for very lean fish like Swordfish, tuna (sauce adds richness!) but be VERY careful about not overcooking the fish.

Not great for:

salmon (too fatty, sauce splits)

very thin delicate fish like flounder, Dover Sole

small whole fish like sardines or mackerel

If using thicker fish fillets that take longer to cook, you might need to thin the sauce out a bit at the end with a tiny bit of water.

Frozen fish – thaw completely, PAT DRY with paper towels to remove as much excess water as possible. Chances are, your sauce will be a little thin for your liking because frozen fish drops so much more liquid than fresh – see Note 4 for how to fix this.

2. Healthier options – the cream can be substituted with evaporated milk. If swapping with light cream, increase mustard by 2 tsp.

3. Eschallots – the small onions, also called French Onions in Australia, and just simply shallots in the US.

Sub with the white part of green onions or really finely minced normal onions. Adds a little something-something to the sauce so don’t leave it out!

4. Sauce – not intended to be thick and gravy-like. It is a light lemon cream sauce, suited to fish. However, it should not be watery.

Sauce consistency will differ depending on the fish that you use – different fish leech different amounts of water while baking. If you really want to thicken the sauce, just take the fish out of the baking dish and return the pan to the oven for a few minutes (it will thicken quickly so keep an eye on it!)

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 213 g
• Calories: 282 kcal
• Total Fat: 16.1 g
• Saturated Fat: 9.8 g
• Cholesterol: 128 mg
• Sodium: 194 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 1 g
• Protein: 34.1 g