Usually I find baked fish recipes produce boring results; no flavor. Not these recipes. Discover simple ingredients do make the best tasting baked fish.
I know the recipe states fish scampi recipe but you may use any white fish fillets, scallops, shrimp; any fish/seafood you wish. It’s versatile, easy to prepare and so tasty.
It’s so important to completely dry the fillets and fry in a heavy pan (I use cast iron).
Just keep in mind cast iron gets hot and takes a while to cool down when the recipe calls for it. You don’t want to burn the fish or the sauce.
Fish Scampi Recipe
1 lb thin white fillets (haddock, trout, tilapia, cod, bass, perch, walleye, etc)*
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS minced garlic
juice of half lemon
1 TBS Hidden Valley Buttermilk dry ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup salted butter
1 tsp dried parsley or 1 TBS fresh parsley, minced
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
1-1/2 cups white wine (chardonnay)
*If fillets are thick, cut in half horizontally.
Pan Cooking the Fish
1. Preheat the heavy pan first on medium high; very important. If you wet your hands and flick in water and it sizzles – its ready. Next add the olive oil and swirl in the pan to make sure the bottom is evenly coated.
2. Slowly add the dry fillets to the pan – do not crowd. It takes just a few minutes to turn golden brown and flip (I use a fish turner which is the spatula I use the most) and it easily and delicately picks up the fillet to turn over. Lower the heat to medium and cook on the other side until lightly golden. Don’t completely cook, because we will finish off cooking later. Gently take the fish out of the pan and set aside.
Making the Scampi Sauce
3. Add the minced garlic to the pan and cook for two minutes or so. Do not let the garlic brown because it will be bitter. Lower the heat to medium-low and add the white wine and lemon juice. Cook until wine mixture is reduced in half.
4. Turn the heat down to low. Add 1/2 cup salted butter (if the pan is too hot, the butter will separate) and dried parsley. Stir sauce until butter is melted and add the fish fillets back into the pan. Top fillets with butter mixture and sprinkle lightly with the Hidden Valley Buttermilk dry ranch dressing mix. If you are using the grated Parmesan sprinkle lightly over the dry dressing mix. If you use a heavy hand, you will end up with the topping being a big clump on top.
Place under the broiler for a couple minutes to finish cooking the fillets.
Easy Baked Fish Recipes
Want to bake your fish?
For the baked fish recipe above, you may use fresh or frozen fish fillets that have been thawed. When the frozen fillets are thawed, dry well with a paper towel first before continuing.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
On a baking sheet, place 2 sheets of tin foil on it and spray with oil. Slice a lemon and place a slice or two on the bottom of the foil. Place the uncooked fish fillets in the center over the lemon slices. Spray with oil and season with salt and pepper. Fold the foil to completely cover the fish. Repeat with the other sheet of foil.
Bake for 18 minutes, remove from oven and open foil. Meanwhile, make the scampi sauce (above) and go from there. There you have it, a delicious and easy baked fish recipe.