Tender, juicy, flavorful baked fish fillets in a sauce supreme.Easy enough for a speedy mid-week meal, yet very delicious. Ready in 30 minutes.
Fish is a favorite seafood for many all around the globe. It provides essential nutrients (good fats and omega-3 fatty acids) that supplement the amounts made by the human body. There is nothing as delicious as baked fish fillets mixed with the cream taste. This dish will stimulate your desire for more and one fascinating about it is that it’s very easy to prepare.
I have been working towards the world where every recipe in the world will get its rightful recognition. I realized that this recipe is prepared elsewhere in a very crude way. Nobody has ever thought of refining it. I took the opportunity and tried to give the recipe some magic touches to make it perfect. When I talk of magic I don’t mean any complex steps but simple procedures fetched from various sources and combined to perfection to deliver a tasteful dish. I am not mean with ideas and I will showcase my generosity by sharing all the tricks I used to make delicious baked fish fillets with the creamy soup.
I used fresh fish fillets rather than the frozen ones. Fresh fish fillet will be perfectly juicy and tender when baked, and this is core to achieving a delicious and tasteful meal. When the juices of the fish mingle with the cream sauce you will get an irresistible taste of the baked fish fillets. The trick here is to bake the fish fillets on low temperature for long, this is what delivers the required tenderness.
I like the versatility here, you can opt to bake your fish fillets in the oven or in a frying pan. Whichever way you select just stick to the plan, make the fish fillets tender. I actually learned that to get the best taste you should use fish fillets which are about 1.5cm thick. This will ensure the juices seeps through the fillets and they will be tasteful all through.
HOW TO MAKE CREAM SAUCE FOR BAKED FISH FILLETS
The second part of the recipe is the preparation of the sauce. One thing should stick to your mind, the sauce is not to be gravy-like and thick. It is a light sauce seasoned with lemon to suit the baked fish fillets. The consistency of your sauce will dictate the success of your recipe. The trick here is to first heat the thickening agents (butter and flour) together to eliminate the raw taste of the flour.
The heating will also prepare the particles of the flour to perfectly absorb the liquid you will use. You also need to enrich your sauce by adding cream. When you add the cream the basic béchamel turns to be the sauce crème. To give you final sauce the desired consistency you must ensure the béchamel or veloute is initially thick enough. Add the béchamel in spoonful as you simmer the sauce. Keep adding and simmering until you sauce is at the right consistency. The seasoning also matters and the best way is to use salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste. You can serve this cream sauce with fish, eggs, veggies & poultry.
The meal will be ready in less than 20 minutes. If you really want to get a feel of what I mean here , just follow the steps keenly and don’t forget to share the experience.
HOW TO MAKE BAKED FISH FILLETS
BAKED FISH FILLETS ( PERCH IN SAUCE SUPREME)
Ingredients
- FOR FISH
- Fresh Nile perch fillets- 1 kg or 2.2 lbs
- Any fish spices of your choice- 2 tbsp
- Lemon juice- ¼ cup
- Onion powder- 1 tsp
- FOR THIN CREAM SAUCE*
- All purpose flour- 2 tbsp
- Butter- 3 tbsp
- Milk hot- 1 ½ cups
- Heavy cream hot- ½ cup
- Salt- ¼ tsp
- Black pepper- ½ tsp
- Dry sage- ½ tsp
- Scallions sliced -2 tbsp
- Equipment: a wooden spatula a wire whip
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 F / 200 C with the rack in the center of the oven.
- In a small bowl combine the fish spices, lemon juice & onion powder.
- Transfer the fish fillets into a large skillet/ pan ( oven safe). Pour the marinade over the fish fillets and coat them evenly. Marinate for 10-15 minutes.
- Put the skillet/pan with the fish fillets in the oven & bake 5-7 minutes.
- In a heavy bottomed pan melt butter over low heat.
- Add in flour and cook until the butter and flour start bubbling without coloring ( about 2 minutes). In France they call it a white roux.
- Remove from the heat. When the roux stops bubbling , pour in 1 ½ cup of hot milk and ½ cup hot heavy cream. Beat with a wire whip to blend.
- Again put the pan over medium high heat, stirring until the sauce gets to boil. Boil only for 1 minute.
- Add the scallions, sage & season with black pepper. Adjust salt to your taste.
- Remove the skillet from the oven. Pour in the hot cream sauce & place in the oven again. Bake 5-7 minutes more.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Thin sauce- 1 tbsp flour per 1 cup of liquid ( stock,milk, water...)
Medium thick sauce- 1 ½ tbsp flour per 1 cup of liquid
Thick sauce- 2 tbsp flour per 1 cup of liquid.
Cooking equipment:
Cook this cream sauce in a heavy iron saucepan. Don't use aluminium saucepans for any kind of creamy sauces. The sauce can pick up a metallic taste or an aluminium pan can discolor the sauce.
Try this baked fish fillets & share your experience!
Alison says
It is damn tasty..Pin it!
Deborah Jablonski says
And, I did it on top of the stove in one pot……
Marla says
This is absolutely amazing!! Try it like NOW!!!
chefjar says
Hi Marla! Thank you for the enthusiastic recommendation! I'm glad you found it amazing.