Creamy sauces are a great addition to fish dishes. They successfully emphasize the taste of the main component and even mask the specific aroma of river fish, if necessary.
Classic creamy sauce
A well-prepared sauce gives fish dishes a richer and more interesting taste, makes them more tender. It should be thick enough and only emphasize the flavor characteristics of the main component, but not interrupt them. When choosing a sauce, you need to take into account the type of fish. Cheese gravy is ideal for salmon and salmon. The taste of herring and mackerel will be emphasized by the mustard filling. Sauces with lots of herbs and spices go well with river fish dishes.
White creamy fish sauce is prepared on the basis of cream and butter. It is a base to which you can add additional ingredients as you wish. White sauce is versatile and goes well with almost all fish dishes. To prepare it you will need:
- 100-150 ml of cream (preferably 20%);
- a little salt;
- 50 g butter;
- a quarter of a lemon;
- spices (it is better to take black or white pepper);
- a little flour (1-2 tsp).
Cooking steps:
- Pour flour into a dry hot frying pan and fry for about 30 seconds. Stir it continuously so that it does not burn. This step is necessary to give the flour a light caramel color.
- Pour flour into a thick-walled small saucepan, add butter and fry for 1-2 minutes on the stove. You should get a thick mass. You can cook the sauce not in a saucepan with a thick bottom, but in a water bath. This reduces the risk of burning.
- Pour the cream into a saucepan in a thin stream, stirring constantly. You can whisk the mixture lightly with a whisk or blender at low speed so that there are no lumps in the sauce. If there is no blender and lumps have formed that are difficult to stir, you can pass the mass through a sieve and then continue cooking.
- Add a little salt, spices to the mixture, gently squeeze the juice from a quarter of a lemon into a saucepan. Cook it over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. The sauce should be moderately thick and aromatic. Serve it to the table immediately, immediately after cooking. They can be poured over a fish dish or served in a separate gravy boat.
Creamy sauce with garlic and herbs
Garlic sauce can be added to add a spicy flavor to your fish dish. This will require:
- a glass of heavy cream;
- 1-2 cloves of garlic;
- a little flour;
- a bunch of greens (dill, parsley);
- spice;
- a little salt;
- 20-30 g butter.
Cooking steps:
- Fry the flour in a saucepan until golden brown. Put butter in a saucepan and stir the mixture.
- Rinse greens and chop very finely. You can grind it with a blender. Peel the cloves of garlic and pass through a press. You can grind the garlic with a blender along with the herbs.
- Pour the cream very gently into a saucepan, stirring the mass constantly so that there are no lumps. Season the sauce with lightly salt and pepper. Instead of the usual black pepper, you can use white pepper. It perfectly enhances the taste of fish dishes.
- Cook the sauce over very low heat until the desired degree of thickening. At the very end, add herbs and garlic, mix and pour over the fish mixture.
Creamy cheese sauce for fish
The addition of cheese gives the fish sauce a thicker consistency and an interesting flavor. To prepare it you will need:
- half a pack of butter;
- 1 tbsp flour;
- a little salt;
- half a glass of dry white wine;
- processed cheese (or about 50 g of hard cheese);
- spice;
- a little sweet paprika;
- sprig of rosemary.
Cooking steps:
- Fry the flour in a saucepan without adding oil. It should only lightly brown. Add butter to the saucepan and stir the mixture.
- Pour wine into the creamy mixture in a thin stream with constant stirring. Add spices and cook for 2 minutes. As spices, you can use freshly ground black pepper, a chopped sprig of rosemary or a mixture of dried Provencal herbs.
- Grate curd or hard cheese, pour into a saucepan and stir the mixture vigorously. You can use an immersion blender or a whisk to blend the ingredients to make the sauce more uniform.
- Heat the sauce on the stove for 1 minute and remove from heat. It is recommended to serve it hot to the table. It is better to pour it over the fish dish right away, as the cheese creamy sauce thickens a lot over time.
Creamy mustard sauce
Creamy mustard sauce will perfectly accentuate the taste of baked mackerel or herring. To prepare it you will need:
- a glass of heavy cream (20%);
- a glass of dry white wine;
- a little salt;
- 2 tablespoons flour;
- a clove of garlic;
- 3 tablespoons mustard;
- a bunch of dill;
- 50 g butter;
- some spices.
Cooking steps:
- Put the butter in a frying pan and melt. Sift flour into the pan. Fry it in oil over low heat for 1 minute. The flour should take on a slightly golden hue.
- Pour white wine into the pan, mix well. It is important that there are no lumps in the sauce. Pass the garlic through a press, put in a saucepan.
- Pour in a thin stream of cream, stirring constantly with a whisk. Boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes.
- Chop the dill with a knife or blender. Add dill, a little salt, spices to taste to the sauce, put the mustard, mix everything well again and after 1 minute remove the sauce from the heat. Pour fish over them and serve the dish to the table.
Creamy Caviar Sauce
A very tasty sauce can be made by adding a little red caviar to it. It will perfectly complement the taste of salmon, salmon and other types of red fish. To prepare it you will need:
- a glass of heavy cream (20%);
- 1 tbsp. l flour;
- 40 g of red caviar;
- half a lemon.
Cooking steps:
- Remove the zest from half a lemon. It is convenient to do this with a special fine grater. Squeeze the lemon juice into a separate bowl.
- Pour flour into a dry frying pan and fry it until golden brown.
- Pour the cream into the pan in a thin stream, whisking the mixture with a whisk. Boil the mixture for 2 minutes over low heat. Add lemon juice and zest and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Cool the sauce a little, add red caviar to it and stir. It is recommended to serve it in a gravy boat, garnished with individual eggs. In this recipe, it is important to add caviar to the cooled mass. Otherwise, it will become hard and ruin the taste of the sauce.
Creamy Pickled Cucumber Sauce
A very simple, but at the same time delicious creamy sauce can be made on the basis of sour cream with the addition of pickled cucumber and herbs. This will require:
- a glass of fatty sour cream;
- pickled cucumber;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- a bunch of dill;
- 100 g cream cheese.
Cooking steps:
- Finely chop the pickled or salted cucumber. Remove the side parts beforehand. If you want to give the sauce a more uniform consistency, you can grate the cucumber.
- Grate the cream cheese on a fine grater. You can also use processed cheese in this recipe. Chop the dill very finely.
- Mix sour cream, chopped dill and cucumber, cheese in a bowl. Peel the garlic and pass through a press, then add to the mixture. Mix all the ingredients well again and serve the sauce for the fish in a separate bowl or pour over each portion.
The proportions in this recipe can be adjusted to suit your taste. To reduce the calorie content of the sauce, you can take low-fat sour cream or even natural yogurt as a basis. If you want to give it a fresher taste, you can replace the pickled cucumber with a fresh one.
