Pan Seared Rockfish With Lemon Caper Sauce And Two Side Dishes

Cindy has a friend who regularly goes fishing in Alaska and catches more than he can eat so he often gives her a plastic grocery bag full and this time it contained Halibut and Pacific Rockfish.  As it turns out, I had recently saved a recipe for “Pan Seared Rockfish With Lemon Caper Sauce” from his “Ask Chef Dennis” blog and since it contains a different recipe for one of our favorites for fish – lemon caper sauce – I suggested Cindy might want to make it and we can compare his sauce to our usual.  I just love it when a plan comes together.  Since she had more fish than the recipe called for, I increased the sauce ingredients - click on the link above for the original recipe.

Pan Seared Rockfish With Lemon Caper Sauce – Adapted from Ask Chef Dennis

Ingredients:

Rockfish

25 ounce rockfish 3 fillets, skin removed

¼ cup flour

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp black pepper

1½ tbsp olive oil

1½ tbsp butter

Lemon Butter Sauce

1½ tbsp shallots finely chopped

2 tbsp capers

1½ tbsp butter

 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

3 ounces white wine 

1½ tbsp butter

1½ tsp flour to roll butter in

1½ tsp Italian parsley finely chopped 

Instructions:

1. Pat rockfish fillets dry with paper towels and season them liberally with sea salt and black pepper.

2. Dredge the rockfish filets in all-purpose flour, getting a good coating on both sides.

3. In a large saute pan (or cast iron pan) add the olive oil and 1½ tablespoon of butter. Heat over medium-high until the butter is melted. Lower the heat to medium.

*Don't let the butter get brown.

4. Place the floured rockfish in the hot pan, cooking on the first side for 3-4 minutes. Don’t be tempted to turn it over too soon, you want that delicious crunch and golden brown color that comes from not moving the fillets around.

5. Turn the rockfish over and continue to saute for another 3-4 minutes. When the pan-seared rockfish is fully cooked, place it on a baking sheet and into a preheated 250-degree oven while you make the lemon caper sauce.

6. Add the butter, shallots and capers, to a saute pan or medium saucepan over medium heat. Saute for 1-2 minutes. Don’t let the butter burn!

7. Add the lemon juice and white wine to the pan.

8. When the liquids are hot, add 1 tablespoon of butter rolled in flour (beurre manie) to the pan. This will thicken the sauce.

9. Serve the lemon caper sauce over the pan-seared rockfish. garnish with chopped parsley and enjoy!

While these aren’t typical sides, we had some veggies that needed to be cooked so I used them to make the side dishes.  The first one was Cheddar Broccoli Cauliflower Gratin using the recipe from Ambitious Kitchen that fit what I was looking for, except I omitted the carrots.

The second one was Southern Fried Cabbage using the recipe from Deep South Dish blog .

This is my plate.

The Verdict:

The fish and sauce were both very good and I appreciate being included in Cindy’s fish gift but I believe I prefer our normal sauce as it includes garlic.  We thought both side dishes were good but agreed they each needed a little more pizzazz.  I’ll stick with my last version of cauliflower casserole and the Cajun Fried Cabbage in the future.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

06/02/22 event date