White fish in creamy sauce

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As regular readers of TR will know, I lived in Nice, France for a number of years. My school was local, my friends were French—I was even fluent in the language, then. I shopped in the market, and I began to cook for my parents.

Niçoise cooking is a delightful mixture of French and Italian, just like the local dialect has Italian words in it. The Port of Nice in those days was the center of a thriving fishing industry. Now the fishing boats have been largely replaced by the yachts of the rich and the little cafes and bistros that surrounded the port have become expensive tourist traps serving sub-standard food at high prices. It may be different now post COVID, I was last there just before the pandemic struck.

Many of the Niçoise dishes that I had in the restaurants and in the homes of my pals were, unsurprisingly, fish, not a few of them laden with heavy cream—delightful but heavy in calories (not that I cared in those days).

This week’s recipe comes from Nice. Like the city it’s a mixture of French and Italian. I have de-caloried it considerably. One of the main changes I made was to swap cream with nonfat yoghurt and butter with lite olive oil spread.

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‍Ingredients

For the fish:

• 1 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tblsp olive oil spread
• 4 fillets of white fish approximately 450 gms, (16 oz).  I used barramundi, which is one of my favorite fish. It can be skin on or off (I left the skin on, I much prefer it, so does Alicia)
• Pepper, to taste
• Chopped fresh parsley or coriander, for garnish

For the lemon yoghurt sauce:

• 2 tblsp lite olive oil spread,
• ¾ tblsp minced garlic
• ½ cup dry white wine (or you can use low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock but that’s a bit of a sacrilege)
• ½ cup nonfat yoghurt
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• pepper, to taste

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‍Directions:

1. Set a skillet over medium heat; heat up oil and 1 tablespoon lite olive oil spread.
2. Season fish with pepper (avoid salt) and add to skillet; cook for 3 or 4 minutes per side.
3. Remove fish from skillet and set aside.
4. Add 1 tablespoon lite olive oil spread to the same skillet and melt over medium-high heat.
5. Stir in garlic and cook for 20 or 30 seconds.
6. Slowly stir in the wine and cook for 4 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced by 1/3.
7. Reduce heat to medium-low and add remaining lite olive oil spread and let it melt
8. Slowly stir in the yoghurt.
9. Add lemon juice and whisk until everything is well combined.
10. Season with pepper, taste the sauce and adjust accordingly.
11. Add fish back into the skillet to reheat for one minute.

Serve the fish. Save the sauce to pour overeach serving as required

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‍Serves: 4

‍Energy: 1032 kJs (258 calories)