Baked Fish with Creamy Spinach and Cheese Sauce

Baked fish is underrated in my house. Our seafood dishes are often simply stir-fried, deep-fried or steamed. To bring diversity into the cooking methods we usually use to prepare our fish meals, I devised a recipe that allowed me to utilize our mini oven.

I have been brainstorming and constructing recipes that are similar to the recently trending baked spinach dip. This dish is my application for its fan club, so am I allowed to jump on the bandwagon yet? I am aware that the sauce I used is not a perfect clone for the original dip because it is less thick and the variety of cheeses I used are different, but I needed to modify these to be able to accommodate what I had at home which you can do too. Nevertheless, even with these changes, the dish is still evocative of baked spinach dip. The sauce perfectly blankets the soft and delicate fillets of fish, and the added buttery crunch of the crust ties everything together.

Recipe

Yields 8-10 servings

~ Ingredients ~

Creamy Spinach and Cheese Sauce

• 3 tbsp or 45 grams butter

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• ⅓ cup shallots, diced

• 1 cup shrimp stock

• 1 cup or 250 mL cream

• 1 cup cheese of your choice

*These are what I used.

• ⅓ cup mozzarella

• ⅓ cup cream cheese

• ⅓ cup smoked cheese

• 1 teaspoon thyme

• 1 teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon white pepper

• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

• Lemon juice from 1 lemon

• 160 grams blanched spinach, chopped

Baked Fish

• 1 kilogram sole fillet

• Pinch of salt

• Pinch of black pepper

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs

• 3 tablespoons butter

• Extra butter for the baking dish

~ Procedure ~

Creamy Spinach and Cheese Sauce

• Sauté the garlic and shallots in butter until golden.

• Pour in the shrimp stock and let it simmer for 2 minutes.

• Combine the cream and cheeses into the sauce and let it thicken.

• Add in the spices and lemon juice. You may adjust this to taste.

• Mix the spinach into the sauce.

Baked Fish

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.

• Season fish with salt and pepper.

• In a pan, cook the fillets in butter for 1-2 minutes on each side.

• Prepare the crust in a bowl by mixing together 3 tablespoons of butter with panko breadcrumbs.

• Butter the baking dish and layer the fish, sauce and crust atop one another.

• Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

• Serve and enjoy!