Fish is always a great option for Quick Dinners. This Crusted Perch with Parsley Sauce not only cooks pretty quickly, it’s full of flavour. Tender perch topped with a crispy breaded topping and served over a creamy parsley sauce. Easy enough for mid week dinners and fancy enough for weekend entertaining.
I love the subtle flavour of perch. I first came across it about 10 years ago and bought it not knowing what it was. That happens a lot in Spanish fish markets. After cooking and tasting it, I was surprised that I hadn’t had it before. I don’t cook it often enough as it is a great fish.
This morning when perusing the fish counter and the sea of so many interesting looking ummmm, fish, to choose from, there were these lonely perch fillets. Sold!
Step one accomplished for dinner. But what to do with them. I remember making a lemon bread crust a few times for cod and I am sure it would work with perch as well. This is such a tasty combination. Honestly, it does not need the sauce. But the sauce is wonderful as a side accompaniment. People, like my husband. like sauce with pretty much everything. So a subtle side of parsley sauce it is.
Here’s Some Other Perch Recipes You Should Try Out
Crusted Perch with Parsley Sauce
Ingredients
For the Fish:
- One Fillet of Perch approximately 1lb, cut into 4 pieces
- 1/2 Cup bread crumbs
- Zest of one lemon
- Juice of one lemon
- 1/4 Cup fresh grated parmesan
- Small bunch of fresh chopped parsley
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 2 Garlic cloves crushed
For the Parsley Sauce:
- 2 Tablespoons of butter
- 1/4 Cup flour
- 1 Teaspoon mustard
- 1 Cup milk
- A handful of parsley roughly chopped
- Salt and fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- In a small saucepan set over medium heat, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour until a paste forms and cook for a further minute or so. Stir in the mustard and milk. Continue whisking until a smooth sauce appears. this will only take a minutes. Add parsley, salt and pepper. Stir and cover until your fish is cooked.
- Prepare the fish first by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium sized baking dish, lay the fish out and set aside. Melt the the butter in a small skillet and add the garlic. Cook until sizzling and remove from heat and set aside. Combine the bread crumbs, lemon zest, parmesan, parsley, salt and pepper and mix well. Spoon the garlic butter over the fish and squeeze over the lemon juice. Top with the bread crumb mixture. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until fish flakes apart.
- Serve the fish with the sauce on the side!
*A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
