Rock Fish in sauce -- a Pinedo recipe

My neighbors, G & T, gave me some dorado filets that G had caught himself.  Wonderful of them to share it with me!  I had to do it an honor by cooking a Pinedo recipe.  (Search this blog under the keyword "Pinedo" to see all of the posts and why she is important to me.)

This recipe is on page 203.

My Translation

Rock fish in sauce.

         Cut the fish into large slices. On the other hand, onion and garlic are fried in butter with salt and pepper, and when the onion is well browned, a glass of claret wine is added.

         Place the fish slices in this sauce, covering the casserole well and letting it cook over a low heat for fifteen minutes.

My Redaction

True confessions:  I made this recipe twice.  The first time was with some store-bought tilapia.  I want to present both versions so you can make choices.  The italicized ingredients are the ones that differ between versions.

First version:

1 pound tilapia

1 large onion, sliced into narrow strips 1 to 2 inches long

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

6 ounces cabernet wine  

Second version:

1 pound dorado

1 large onion, sliced into narrow strips 1 to 2 inches long

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

6 ounces pinot noir wine

Ingredients with the dorado

Melt the butter in a Dutch oven.  Add the onions and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown.  Add the garlic, salt, and pepper; cook a few minutes longer, stirring continuously to avoid burning the garlic.

Add the wine and stir well.

Add the fish filets.  For the tilapia, I spooned about half of the onion-wine sauce over the top of the fish.  For the dorado, I put the filets in skin side UP and made sure the filets were imbedded in the sauce.

Turn the heat to low.  For the tilapia, I forgot to cover the pan, so it cooked 23 minutes until the meat was flaking.  For the dorado, I covered the pan and cooked it 15 minutes for the meat to be flaky.

Onions just starting to brown, with seasonings added.

The entire sauce.

Note that the filets are pushed down into the sauce for cooking.

Cooked.  One filet was turned over to check on doneness.

The Verdict

I served the filets in a bowl with some of the sauce spooned over the top.  It was good to have the onion mixture already on top of the fish when served.  I didn't include a lot of the liquid into the bowl.  I used a spatula to move the filets to our plates, which included the cooked onions but not the liquid part of the sauce (not much, anyway).

I think some fresh parsley on top would have been pretty.

The meat was, as said, flaky, and very moist.  The flavor was good in both cases, with two differences.

First, the tilapia needed more salt, which is why I increased the salt quantity for the dorado version.  The sauce on the tilapia was bright and tangy, which I thought came from the cabernet (acid and fruity) and the pepper.  I chose cabernet because it is close to claret, which I didn't have on hand.

In contrast, the dorado had just the right amount of salt, but the sauce was not as bright or tangy.  The pinot noir just didn't have the robust flavor of the cabernet, so while it was good, it was not as good.  I wanted that tang on my tongue.

In both versions, my guest taster and I thoroughly enjoyed the fish.  The fact that I didn't overcook them (and I think it would be hard to do it with this technique) made it good, and the sauce with the onions made it even better.  The onions were cooked enough that they added their sweetness, the butter added a good mouthfeel, and the garlic-salt-pepper seasoning was just right.  The garlic flavor was a supporting role:  it didn't stand out but it did add its distinctive flavor to the background.

Success, twice!

I have to say that this recipe is very easy to prepare, and I got a lovely main course out of it.  While everything was cooking, I put together the rest of the meal.  For example. the dorado had a side Caesar salad, a quinoa pilaf, and some cranberry sauce.

A good dinner.