lemon & herb crumbed fish with tartare sauce

Today the temperature finally dropped and we even had some rain, which was extremely welcomed after the above 40 temperatures lately. So in other words it was a perfect day to stay inside and do some cleaning and organising. I also started prepping the walls in the office, so it will soon be ready for painting, wallpapering and bookshelf building :). Will give you a status report soon!

But for now let's focus on cooking. On Sundays, particularly rainy ones, I always crave comfort food. So for dinner tonight I decided on making lemon & herb crumbed fish with tartare sauce. This is a great dish as you can make the sauce well in advance which makes it quick and easy to put together the rest at dinner time.

I like to serve this dish with boiled potatoes and peas but the options are endless.

Ingredients

4 John Dory (or similar) fillets
2 eggs
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons plain flour
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped basil
1 tablespoon chopped oregano
Juice from half a lemon
Salt
Pepper
Butter for frying

Tartare Sauce
50 ml sour cream
100 ml whole egg mayonaise (I always use the Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise or make it myself. No Australian mayonaise it up to scratch!)
4 tablespoons gherkins, very finely diced
1 tablespoon capers, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon chives, chopped
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
Salt & Pepper

Instructions

Sauce:

1. Place sour cream and mayonnaise in a medium mixing bowl
2. Finely dice the gherkins and capers
3. Roughly chop the fresh herbs
4. Add all ingredients to the mayonnaise and sour creme mix and stir well
5. Season with salt and pepper

Fish

1. Combine breadcrumbs, herbs, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl
2. Keep the flour in a separate bowl
3. Whisk eggs lightly in a separate bowl
4. Toss fish in flour, shake away excess. Dip in egg mixture, then coat in crumb mixture. 
5. Heat butter in a medium hot frying pan. Cook fish for 2 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Squeeze lemon juice on fish while cooking.

Serve fish with tartare sauce, boiled potatoes and peas. I added some broccoli as well, as per Brett's request!

We finished off our Sunday night with a movie, a cup of Peppermint tea and (fake) after eight chocolates. You can't find the real thing here, strangely enough! 

xxx