TASTE
Pan-fried fish fillets with easy low-fat sauce
| • | Wholly fish! |
By Elaine Magee
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Q. I get that we are supposed to eat more fish. My plea to you is to give me an easy fish recipe that I might use with several types of fish.
A. I'm entrusting you with my all-time favorite "fish in a jiffy" recipe for Italian pan-fried fish. We are still browning and cooking the fish in a frying pan, but instead of deep-frying the fish or pan-frying it in lots of butter, we are switching to extra-virgin olive oil and minimizing the amount of oil that the fish will absorb by adding only 1 teaspoon per serving.
The light lemon sauce is made simply with lemon curd and fat-free half-and-half instead of butter, lemon juice and whipping cream.
This recipe uses a thin fish fillet, but you can use thicker fillets (like bass or halibut) if you cut them in half lengthwise to create thin fillets.
A typical recipe for fried fish with a more traditional lemon sauce contains 390 calories, 24 grams fat, and 11 grams saturated fat per serving.
FAST ITALIAN-STYLE FISH WITH EVEN FASTER LEMON SAUCE
Lemon sauce:
Pat fish dry with paper towels and set aside on a piece of wax paper. Place bread crumbs, sage and Bay seasoning in a medium-size bowl and blend well with whisk. In another medium-size bowl, whisk together the eggs and water.
Start heating olive oil in large, nonstick skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat. Quickly dip each fish fillet in the egg wash and then the crumb coating (making sure there is plenty of crumb coating sticking to the fillet). Place coated fish in hot skillet and continue with fillets until all have been coated with egg and the crumb coating and placed in the pan. Coat the tops of the fish with olive oil cooking spray.
When the bottoms are nice and brown (about 4 minutes), flip fillets over to brown other side (about 3 minutes more). Remove to serving dish and keep warm by covering the fish with a sheet of foil.
In small, nonstick saucepan, add lemon curd and half-and-half and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once the sauce comes to a gentle boil and has formed a nice smooth and slightly thickened sauce (about a minute), remove from heat.
Serve each serving of fish with a tablespoon of the lemon sauce drizzled on top. Add a pinch or two of freshly chopped parsley on top of the fish if desired.
Makes 4 servings.
