vmac+cheese

You might recall from a few posts ago that I recently became the proud new owner of the Back to Basics cookbook by Ina Garten. I think Ina’s style and approach to cooking mirror my own, so I was curious to see what this book could offer.

Flipping through, one of the recipes that caught my eye was for mustard-roasted fish. I can admit it right here: fish is one of my least favorite things to cook, because I always end up breaking it or otherwise screwing it up. To me, there’s nothing worse than over-cooked fish, but because of that, I nearly always undercook it. This recipe was appealing because as the fish is baked, it’s a bit easier to ensure perfect cookery.

The premise of this dish is simple. You mix some stuff together, dump it over the fish, and bake. All in all, it will probably take you 20 minutes from the minute you open your refrigerator to the time the fish is ready.

The recipe is as follows:

(And I don’t mind posting it here, since it’s available online. It kind of annoys me that many of the recipes in this book are already available for free online, but I guess the photography in the book is fantastic, so whatever. Plus, I didn’t pay for the book. But if I had, I’d probably be REALLY annoyed and might even consider returning it).

Mustard-Roasted fish

• 4 (8-oz) fish fillets such as red snapper
• –Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 ounces crème fraîche
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 2 tablespoons drained capers

This is one of many instances in which I was so stoked we brought home lots and lots of cheap Maille mustard from France (thank you, Franprix!). Also, instead of shallot, I used a bit of red onion. The flavor wasn’t as nuanced, but it did the trick in a pinch.

After preheating my oven to 425°, I mixed together the crème fraîche, mustards, capers, minced red onion and some salt and pepper. I also threw some fresh thyme leaves in for good measure. Easy.

I only used two fillets, not four, but still made the full amount of sauce. I laid the fillets down in a baking dish, seasoned them with salt and pepper, then poured the sauce over, spreading with a spoon to ensure it coated all of the fish. This wasn’t something I should’ve worried too much about, as there was way too much sauce. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

You should just be ready for it.

Next, you just throw the whole thing into the oven and let it go for 10 or 15 minutes. Another warning though: the photo in the book shows a beautifully golden-browned fish, and I’m telling you right now, there’s no way to get that result  in 15 minutes without finishing the fish under your broiler (welcome to the world of food styling!). Without the browning, I thought the dish looked a little…anemic. So I pulled the fish from the oven, fired up the broiler, stuck it under there for two minutes or so, and ended up with this:

Yeah, the fish was sort of drowning in the sauce. Good thing it was so tasty — I saved the leftovers and plan to pour it over some steamed vegetables later this week.

The final verdict? This was extraordinarily easy to make, and pretty difficult to mess up. The book says that “it’s good enough to serve to the fanciest company.” Ehh…I don’t know about that. But for a Monday night, when you get home at 6:15, your boyfriend is starving, and you don’t want to spend too much time putting dinner together? It’s perfect.

I served it with snap peas sauteed with lemon zest, and a cherry tomato and avocado salad.

Nothing fancy. Just good weeknight eating.

Filed under: Fish/Seafood, Food, French, Recipes Tagged: | baked fish, fish recipes, Food Network, Ina Garten, mustard sauce