Parmesean-Crusted Barramundi with Lemon Butter Sauce

This recipe is a quick and delicious way to enjoy Barramundi or other mild fish fillets**



4 - 175 gm Barramundi fillets, lightly floured
2 eggs whisked with 1 Tbsp milk (or water) to make an egg wash.
1 Cup bread crumbs
1/2 Cup Parmesean cheese, grated
3 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and cracked pepper - to taste
Oil for frying

Lemon Butter Sauce - see link below
Capers - optional

In a flat bottomed bowl, combine bread crumbs, grated Parmesean cheese, chopped parsley, salt and pepper

In another bowl, whisk egg and milk together

Heat a pan of oil - about 1/2 inch deep - on medium-high

Dredge washed Barramundi fillets in flour, then dip into egg mixture and then coat evenly in bread crumb/parmesean mixture.

Carefully slide fillets into hot oil and cook until the bottom side is turning brown - timing depends on how thick your fillets are.  Carefully turn with a spatula and cook on the other side until golden brown.

When plating up - drizzle Lemon-Butter sauce over fish and scatter capers over, if desired.
Serve with rice and a green vegetable.

This recipe will serve 3-4 people.

In the photo the fish is served with Mizrahi Rice.  Jasmine or Basmati rice would be nice as well.

Lemon Butter Sauce recipe here

** Kosher Fish List

Notes:  I rinsed off the fish and put all the ingredients into each bowl.  I then got the rice going and the first part of the lemon butter sauce ready while the oil in the pan was heating.  By the time the oil was hot and the fish was halfway cooked, the rice and vegetable was ready and I only needed to finish the sauce.  This entire meal took me between 30 and 45 minutes from start to finish.

If someone in your household has an allergy to gluten, potato flour would work as a nice substitute for the bread crumbs.  Use cornstarch/cornflour instead of wheat flour in first step.

I have not tried to make this recipe under the broiler/grill in my oven.  If you try this method instead of frying I would enjoy your feedback.  Thanks!

Lemon Butter Sauce ~ good for fish or veggies!

This delicious sauce only takes 3 -4 minutes to make.  If you are making it for Shabbat, make this last.  You can set it aside on a blech until serving time. It is a thin sauce - not at all thick like hollandaise so a little goes a long way.  Still, I normally double this recipe.

Ingredients: 

2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
3 Tbs dry white vermouth OR Cheap dry white wine (my daughter figured this out!)
Salt and white pepper
1 stick (115 g) chilled butter cut in to 12 fingertip-size pieces

Instructions:

In a small saucepan, slowly boil the lemon juice, vermouth, and ¼ tablespoon of salt. Boil down to about 1 tablespoon. A piece or two at a time, beat in the chilled pieces of butter, adding another piece or two just as the previous pieces just have melted, so that the sauce remains ivory colored, rather than looking like melted butter.

Keep warm until serving time. 

A little goes a long way - but I normally double the recipe as it is just so yummy spooned over vegetables and fish.  In the photo below, I served the Lemon Butter Sauce with salmon and asparagus. Often, I will toss on a few capers as they are so delicious.

Salmon Wrapped in Phyllo with Spinach and Mushrooms

Salmon Wrapped in Phyllo with Spinach and Mushrooms

Serves 4 as a main dish, can be doubled or serves 8 as an appetizer.

Ingredients:

4 (6-ounce) centre cut salmon fillets, skin removed (equal size pieces)
1 lemon, zested and juiced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium Vidalia onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chopped shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
4 cups washed, dried, and loosely packed fresh baby spinach
1/4 cup sour cream
2 frozen puff pastry sheets, defrosted
Chopped fresh parsley leaves, for garnish

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Brush both sides of the salmon with 1 teaspoon lemon juice and sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.

Warm 2 tablespoons oil in 2 separate skillets over medium-high heat. Add half of the onion and half the garlic to each pan. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms and thyme into 1 pan and the spinach, lemon zest and remain lemon juice in the other pan. Stir the spinach until it wilts, then transfer it to a bowl and set aside. Sauté the mushrooms until they are reduced and tender, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the sour cream. Set aside.

Unroll a pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. With a rolling pin lightly seal the seams and lengthen the dough slightly. Cut the pastry sheet into 3 equal strips, using the natural seams as a guide. Roll out the second puff pastry sheet to get 1 more strip. Save remaining puff pastry for another use. Lightly prick the 4 strips with a fork. Put 1 heaping spoonful of mushroom mixture on 1 half of each pastry, top with salmon, and then layer with a heaping spoonful of spinach mixture. Wet the edges of the pastry with water and fold over the other half, pressing lightly and folding to seal the edges. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling. Cut 2 vents on the top of each pastry packet and arrange them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake until the pastry is golden and fish is just opaque in the centre, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Garnish with chives or parsley and serve with the sauce below, if desired:

  This is a simple lemon-butter sauce made with
3 Tbsp dry white wine or Vermouth
2 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup butter, cut in small cubes  (Use margarine for a Pareve sauce)
 a pinch of salt -
In a saucepan put the wine, lemon juice - cook, watching carefully, and reduce until it is about 2 Tbsp.  Add pinch of salt.  Slowly, over low heat, add the little chunks of butter until you have a fabulous sauce.
I usually double this sauce - it is sooo good!

Delicious with this dish or asparagus or Artichokes or broccoli or...well, anything!

K (D) unless you use margarine and Tofutti better than sour creme - then it is K (P)