Seared White Fish with Lemon Butter and Peas
Golden seared white fish finished with a bright lemon butter pan sauce, served over tender potatoes and sweet peas. A light, high-protein dinner that comes together in one skillet.
- Total
- 35 min
- Prep 10 · Cook 25
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Searing · Pan sauce
- Savory
- Stovetop
- Oven
Instructions
-
Peel the potatoes and cut them into 2 cm cubes. Put them in a small pot, cover with cold water by 2 cm, add 0.25 tsp salt, and bring to a boil. Simmer 10 to 12 minutes until a knife slides in with no resistance. Drain in a colander.
~12 min
Cutting potatoes into even 2 cm cubes ensures they cook at the same rate, so none turn mushy before the rest are tender.
-
While step 1 cooks
While the potatoes cook, pat the white fish dry with paper towels and season both sides with the remaining 0.25 tsp salt and the black pepper. Zest the lemon into a small bowl, then cut the lemon in half and squeeze 1 tbsp juice into the same bowl. Pick the dill leaves and chop them.
~4 min
Drying the fish removes surface moisture that would steam rather than brown, and zesting before juicing keeps the zest from getting wet and clumping.
-
Melt 10 g butter in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until it foams. Lay the white fish in the pan and sear undisturbed for 3 to 4 minutes until the underside is golden and releases easily. Flip with a fish spatula and cook 2 to 3 minutes more, until the fish flakes at the thickest point and reaches 63°C. Transfer to a plate.
~7 min
Searing undisturbed builds a golden Maillard crust; the fish releases on its own once that crust forms, so flipping too early tears the fillet.
Pat the fish completely dry before it hits the pan: surface moisture steams the fillet instead of browning it, and dry fish gives you the golden crust that flavours the lemon butter sauce.
Searing Pat the fish bone-dry and leave it undisturbed until the underside releases easily; moving it too early tears the crust and sticks the fillet.
-
Lower the heat to medium. Add the peas and the drained potatoes to the same skillet and toss in the butter left in the pan for 2 minutes, until the peas are hot and the potatoes pick up colour. Push them to one side of the pan.
~2 min
Tossing the potatoes and peas in the residual butter coats them and lets the potatoes pick up colour from the hot pan without burning.
-
Add the remaining 10 g butter to the empty side of the skillet. Once it melts, pour in the lemon zest and juice and stir for 30 seconds, scraping up the browned bits, until the sauce thickens slightly. Return the white fish to the pan, spoon the sauce over it, and scatter the dill on top. Serve straight away.
~2 min
Stirring lemon juice into melted butter while scraping the fond dissolves the browned bits and thickens the sauce into a glossy pan sauce.
Add the lemon juice off the heat if your pan runs hot. Boiled lemon juice turns bitter, while juice stirred into melted butter at a gentle temperature stays bright.
Pan sauce Add lemon juice to melted butter off high heat and scrape the fond as it bubbles; boiling the juice too hard turns it bitter instead of bright.