French Oven Baked Fish Recipe

Here's a super simple and quick oven baked fish recipe from France. I like baking fish because it cuts down on the smell that you otherwise get when pan cooking. Also it's easy to fix the fish, pop it in the oven and than prepare a quick side dish of potatoes or rice. You'll even have time to make a green salad.

Making it French Fish

This baked fish recipe features shallots, cream and wine, a fabulous flavor combination that screams French.

You'll find shallots frequently used in French recipes. Although similar in taste to an onion, they have a little extra something that makes them sweet with just a bit of a bite, like garlic.

• Shallots are available year round in France where they are frequently used in recipes. They are also popular in Asian cooking.. They are part of the same family of plants as garlic and onions, but have a milder more subtle flavor than either.
• You can find them in a variety of colors including rose, grey, and white as well as in varying sizes (I was surprised the other day to find some that were actually larger than onions). Often they are in a bunch, with several cloves attached to each other.
• Store them as you would onions -a basket on a pantry shelf is perfect. Do watch them though, as they go bad more quickly than onions.
• Shallots combine wonderfully with butter, cream and wine as in this baked fish recipe.
• A most simple and wonderful way to enjoy shallots is to simply chop them finely, cook them slowly until soft in a little butter and enjoy on a grilled steak or fish.
• If you would like to try shallots, but can't find them at the grocery store, you could try dried shallots as a substitute in most recipes.

Here's a great introductory book to cooking fish. It covers the nine most popular fish in the United States, but the basic cooking techniques can be applied to other varieties. Fast Fish contains the information you need to easily start cooking fish more often.

You might find this baked fish recipe a little more elegant than some, because the fish is rolled before baking. This makes a nice presentation. It calls for two pounds of fish filets which makes 6 servings, but you can easily adjust the amounts depending on how many people you want to feed.

• 2 pounds thin fish filets (sole for example)
• salt and pepper
• 3 tablespoons butter
• two shallots
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, or 2 teaspoons dried herbs

Butter a baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter and sprinkle with half of the shallots.

Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper, then roll up each filet. Arrange them seam-side down in the baking dish.

Sprinkle with remaining shallots, bread crumbs, and herbs, then pour wine and cream on top. Melt the other two tablespoons of butter and drizzle on top.

Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes. Serve hot.

Serves 6

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