Chef James’ Creamy White Wine Fish Sauce
For this recipe Greenfish supplied us with some super tasty Silver Fish. You can prepare it as in our Crispy Skinned Fish Recipe before tackling the sauce I am about to cover here.
I was fortunate enough to have Chef James pass on some inspiration for this delicious sauce! I used his guidance in combination with our crispy skin fish fillets to come up with this recipe. Utilizing fresh ginger, lemongrass and thyme in a reduced white wine sauce with some finishing touches of cream, it is simply to die for!
This sauce is very versatile and can be used on just about any white fish. The trick is to allow it enough time to reduce and simmer properly, enhancing all the delicious flavours.
Adding the cream at the end gives it a silky smooth texture and rich flavour.
Make sure you strain the sauce before serving to remove any bits and bobs.
Add some fresh asparagus and baby potatoes covered in Garlic and Parsley Butter (explained in our Crispy Skin Fish Fillet Recipe) and the meal is complete.
- 2 Greenfish Silver Fish Fillets (prepared as in our Crispy Skinned Fish recipe)
- 1 Onion
- 2 Tbsp Clarified Butter (explained in our Crispy Skinned Fish Recipe)
- 1 Stick of Lemongrass (finely chopped)
- 1 Thumb of Ginger (grated)
- 1 tsp Garlic
- A handful of fresh Thyme
- 1 x Star Anise
- 250ml White Wine
- A few Fish Trimmings (from your fillets)
- 250ml Fish Stock (or chicken stock)
- 250ml Cream
- Serve with sides of Asparagus and Baby Potatoes
- FOR THE SAUCE: Slice up your onion and sweat it in your clarified butter until sweet and soft
- Add your lemongrass, ginger, garlic and thyme and allow all to sweat down and release aromas in the pan.
- Add your Star Anise, White Wine and Fish Trimmings to the pan.
- Reduce this sauce to approximately a quarter and then add the Fish Stock.
- Reduce again to approximately a quarter, keeping an eye on the reduction process and not allowing it to burn or catch in the pan.
- Add Cream and allow to simmer a little before straining.
- FOR SIDES: Blanch asparagus (3-4 minutes)
- Boil baby potatoes (8-10 minutes)
- Add the asparagus and baby potatoes to a pan and toss with a bit of the garlic, butter and parsley sauce (explained in our Crispy Skinned Fish Recipe).
Crispy Skinned Fish
There’s nothing nicer than a piece of crispy skin coating your flaky fish fillets and achieving this is a lot simpler than one thinks! The trick is to follow a few simple rules:
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- 1. Make sure your fillets are incredibly dry.
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- 2. Make sure you season the fillets with fine table salt 5 minutes before frying to assist in removing any excess moisture from the fillets.
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- 3. Make sure you use clarified butter to pan fry the fillets.
- 4. Make sure you use a plate or some form of a weight to keep the fillets flat in the pan to prevent them from curling up.
If you follow these few simple rules, plus read the recipe provided carefully, achieving crispy fish skin will be a breeze!
TO MAKE THE CLARIFIED BUTTER:
Place your butter in a glass jug or bowl and leave in a sunny spot to melt on its own.
Once the butter has melted it will separate, the clear liquid on the top is your clarified butter.
Either scoop this clear liquid butter out with a spoon or syringe or pour through a muslin cloth. I only had a fine sieve, so I used this and it worked out ok. Put in a separate dish to use for this recipe and keep the leftovers in the fridge as it’s great to have some readily available for future use.
- 2 Greenfish Fish Fillets (for this recipe I used Silver Fish)
- 1 Block of Butter (500g)
- Fine Table Salt
- 1 tsp Garlic
- handful of Parsley
- TO MAKE THE CLARIFIED BUTTER: place your butter in a glass jug or bowl and leave in a sunny spot to melt on its own.
- Once the butter has melted it will separate, the clear liquid on the top is your clarified butter. Either scoop this clear liquid butter out with a spoon or syringe or pour through a muslin cloth. I only had a fine sieve, so I used this and it worked out ok. Put in a separate dish to use for this recipe and keep the leftovers in the fridge as it's great to have some readily available for future use.
- PREPARING & FRYING YOUR FISH: Place your filleted, pin boned and scaled fillets flat on a board or plate. (You can use our recipes on how to fillet and scale fish if your fish fillets still have these attached).
- Score your fillets 1mm deep from the back to tummy of the fish (refer to pictures in this recipe which display the correct direction to score)
- Dry your fillets with paper towel on both sides until all the moisture has been removed.
- Five minutes before frying, season on both sides with fine table salt, this will allow any further moisture to be absorbed.
- Heat your pan to a medium high heat and add a generous amount of clarified butter.
- Place your fillets in the pan skin side down and use a plate to weight them down to avoid them from curling upwards.
- Cook the fillets until they are about 80% cooked through.
- Turn the fillets over and cook for the remaining 20% to finish off.
- Brush with your garlic and parsley butter before serving.
- TO MAKE THE GARLIC AND PARSLEY BUTTER: In a small pot on the stove add 1/3 cup of Clarified Butter, 1 teaspoon of Garlic and your handful of chopped Parsley.
- Melt together on a medium heat ensuring that the pot doesn't get too hot as cooking at too high a heat will kill off your delicious garlic flavours.
