Baked Sea Bass with Lemon Butter Sauce, a quick and easy recipe that is on the table in 20 minutes. It's a delicious low-carb recipe that can be enjoyed with any greens of your choice; it's healthy, full of goodness, and bursting with the freshest flavours.
When it comes to healthy recipes, fish or seafood in general are hard to beat. Especially when you live on a beautiful island where fresh fish is plentiful. There is something about Spring that wakes you up from the long Winter's hibernation mood and steers you back onto a healthier, more wholesome path.
Sea bass has become my favourite white fish - it's super easy to eat without constantly worrying about small bones, it has a delicate sweetness to it that pleases even fussy people's taste buds, and it cooks in the oven in no time.
And the best sauce for any white fish has to be the lemon butter sauce. My sauce has a lovely garlicky kick to it that really sends it over the edge, while the lemon cuts through the richness of the butter. And then you have the fresh parsley and dill that add colour and more flavour - what a treat!
It just goes to show that less is more, and you can create wonderful flavours with just a handful of fresh, simple ingredients - this really is a dish after my own heart!
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Ingredients used
- sea bass - I used 2 whole fish, gutted, heads and tails removed
- lemon - fresh, I used half a lemon for the sauce, and serve the fish with lemon slices
- butter - I used salted, but use what you have
- parsley and dill - you can also use either of them, but as a combo they works wonderfully well
- garlic
- salt and pepper - to taste
- a small onion - for topping the fish
Variations
This recipe works with any other white fish you have - if you use fillets rather than a whole fish, adjust the baking time, as the fish can be ready in as little as 10-15 minutes.
If you go for fillets, you can also pan-fry them instead of baking - in my Cornmeal Fried Fish you can find instructions on how to fry a cod fillet, but this can also work with sea bass fillets.
Step-by-step photos and instructions
- place the 2 sea bass onto a baking dish, season with salt and pepper
- peel and cut the onion into rings, and top the fish
- bake in the preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes
- meanwhile, make the sauce - in a frying pan set over a low to medium heat, melt the butter
- leave it to cook for 2-3 minutes stirring occasionally so that it gets a light brown colour and a nutty flavour
- squeeze in half of the lemon
- add the peeled and chopped garlic together with the parsley and dill, and give it a good stir
- pour over the fish as soon as it comes out of the oven
Expert tips
Make sure you cook the sauce on a low to medium heat, a high high will make the butter burn quickly and taste bitter - you can actually smell when the butter turns into a gorgeous golden colour, it has a distinctive nutty flavour.
You can add a bit of a chilli kick to the sauce by adding some chilli flakes, if you like some heat, but that's totally optional.
What to serve with baked sea bass
I went for a low carb feast and served the fish with grilled asparagus, but you can also go for any other greens here: broccoli or broccoli spears, peas, green beans - I absolutely love my Sauteed Green Beans with white fish.
The best carbs though for fish are potatoes - my Garlic Butter Baby Potatoes would go down a treat with this sea bass, as well as the Potato Egg Salad. If you like fish and chips, why not turn this classic dish into a way healthier meal by adding baked fries to it.
Other great sides are plain basmati rice, couscous, whole wheat, pear barley or orzo. So many choices here!
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Baked Sea Bass with Lemon Butter Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 whole sea bass ( gutted, heads and tails removed)
- 1 lemon
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 small onion
- 50 g butter
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- â…› teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoon parlsey
- 1 tablespoon dill
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (390 Fahrenheit, 180 fan oven).
- Place the sea bass onto a baking dish, and season with salt and pepper.
- Peel and cut the onion into rings, and top the dish.
- Bake for 20 minutes until the fish is tender.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce.
- In a pan set over a low to medium heat, melt the butter, and leave it to cook for 2-3 minutes until it turns into a golden to light brown colour and it has a nutty flavour.
- Squeeze in half of the lemon, then add the peeled and chopped garlic together with the chopped herbs.
- Give the sauce a good stir and remove it from the heat.
- Pour the sauce over the fish as soon as it comes out of the oven.
Video
Notes
- Make sure you cook the sauce on a low to medium heat, a high high will make the butter burn quickly and taste bitter - you can actually smell when the butter turns into a gorgeous golden colour, it has a distinctive nutty flavour.
- You can add a bit of a chilli kick to the sauce by adding some chilli flakes, if you like some heat, but that's totally optional.
Nutrition
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Peter Bates
Excellent, though I would suggest brushing the baking dish with oil or melted butter before adding the fish, as it did stick to the ceramic dish that I used.