Baked Zander Fillet with Cheese

Name: Baked Zander Fillet with Cheese and Cream: Oven Recipe
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Zander (fillet) 0.5 kg; Hard cheese 150 g; Red bell pepper 1; Onion 2; Olive oil 3 tbsp, plus more for the dish; Salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste; Dried herbs (oregano, basil, mint, sage) to taste; Sour cream 0.5 cup (100 g); Cream, 15% 50 ml; Dill 5–6 sprigs

☆ 4.7

1 h 30 mins

I honestly don’t know why, but around here any bake made of anything at all, as long as it has been sprinkled with cheese first, earns the honorary title “French-style”. Countless recipes for meat, fish, vegetables, chicken, mushrooms, and all of them “French-style”. Even zander fillet with cheese gets passed off as a French dish.

I have to admit that, leafing through cookbooks on classic and modern French cooking, I never came across a recipe like the one we are used to. French cuisine took shape over centuries, and, interestingly, its regional (peasant) and aristocratic (refined) branches developed at the same time yet barely crossed paths. Cheese is certainly used widely in cooking there, given that France has more than 400 kinds of it. A French-style dinner usually includes cheese. I remember a huge platter woven from willow shoots with small wheels of cheese laid out on it. And a bottle of Burgundy.

Cheese is a food made from milk by fermenting and curdling it with the help of various bacteria and enzymes. The books say cheese is usually pale yellow. But walk into a shop and you get the impression that all cheeses are the same colour and differ only in their plastic wrap and the size of the holes. And when melted they turn into a greasy slop with lumps floating in it.

Be that as it may, baking dishes under grated cheese is very common and, let’s be honest, very tasty. The only question is the quality of the cheese.

Zander fillet under cheese is a lovely, tasty dish, even if it isn’t French. It works well as a main course or a starter, and even cold it makes a fine sandwich to take to work. I deliberately left out potatoes, tomatoes and mayonnaise: I think they have no place here. All the “fish with cheese” recipes look alike, yet the dishes turn out different.

Fish with cheese: baked zander fillet with cream and vegetables, a great main course. The recipe is not complicated and easy to repeat.

Ingredients

2 servings

Zander (fillet) 0.5 kg
Hard cheese 150 g
Red bell pepper 1
Onion 2
Olive oil 3 tbsp, plus more for the dish
Salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste
Dried herbs (oregano, basil, mint, sage) to taste

Sour cream 0.5 cup (100 g)
Cream, 15% 50 ml
Dill 5–6 sprigs

Step-by-step recipe

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Preparing the fish

To make baked zander fillet with cheese, you first have to get hold of a zander, one way or another (catch it, buy it, receive it as a gift, etc.).

Scale the zander and remove the fins, head and tail. Cut the fillets off the skin and remove all the bones. This is important. Cut the zander fillet crosswise into pieces 4–5 cm wide.

Season with salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with a little nutmeg (freshly grated, of course). Add 1 tbsp of olive oil. Leave the fillet for 15–20 minutes.

Onion and pepper

While the zander fillet is marinating, peel the onion and slice it into thin strips. Seed the red bell pepper and cut it into fairly large slices.
Pour 2 tbsp of olive oil into a frying pan and fry the onion and pepper over the lowest heat until soft. It’s even worth braising them a little under a lid until the onion starts to turn golden.

Assembling and baking

Grease a baking dish with olive oil and lay the pieces of zander fillet in it in a single layer. An important point: the pieces should lie flesh side up, with the side where the skin was facing down. Sprinkle the zander fillet with a mix of fragrant dried herbs such as oregano, basil, mint and sage, as you like. The herbs give the dish a special delicate aroma.
Spread the fried onion and pepper over the zander fillet in an even layer.

In a separate small bowl, combine the sour cream, cream and finely chopped dill. Mix thoroughly with a fork to get a sauce of medium thickness.
Pour the sauce over the zander fillet in the dish, spreading it evenly so that no gaps are left.
Put the dish of fish into an oven preheated to 200 °C and bake. The baking time varies a lot, but count 15 minutes from the moment the sour cream sauce starts to bubble. Then take the dish out of the oven and sprinkle it with finely grated hard cheese.
Return the dish to the oven and bake until the cheese melts and the fish starts to brown. If the cheese is good, it won’t turn runny but will bake into a firm crust with a pleasant golden colour.

Serving

Baked zander fillet with cheese is an amazing dish. You can eat it hot or warm.

But best of all is to let it cool to room temperature and lay the pieces on very fresh bread. That makes superb sandwiches.

Calories and macros

885 kcal

Serving ≈ 450 g

Protein71 g33% of kcal
Fat58 g61% of kcal
Carbs15 g7% of kcal

100 g199 kcalProtein 15.9 gFat 13.1 gCarbs 3.3 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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To Get It Right

Which cheese to use

For zander with cheese, it all comes down to the quality of the cheese. Use a good hard cheese: a cheap one melts into a greasy slop with lumps, while a good one bakes into a golden crust. Grate it finely.

What you can add

You can add a few sliced button mushrooms to the onion and pepper in the baked zander: I did that when I baked cod by this recipe. But I deliberately leave out potatoes, tomatoes and mayonnaise: I think they have no place here.

Have your own trick for this recipe?

Questions and answers

How long to bake zander fillet in the oven?

At 200 °C, 15 minutes from the moment the sour cream sauce starts to bubble. Then sprinkle with cheese and bake until it melts and the fish starts to brown.

How do you keep zander fillet juicy in the oven?

Let the fillet stand for 15–20 minutes with salt, spices and olive oil, and bake it under a layer of onion and pepper and a sour cream and cream sauce. And don’t overbake it: 15 minutes after the sauce comes to a boil is enough, then only under the cheese until the crust forms.

Can you make this with cod or hake?

Yes. We made cod by this recipe and it came out well, sea bass works nicely too, and hake will do as well. Cod releases more liquid, though, so make the sauce thicker: more sour cream and less cream.

How do you cook frozen zander fillet?

Thaw it first: move the fillet from the freezer to the fridge the evening before, and pat it dry with a paper towel before seasoning. Then follow the recipe.

Can you cook zander with cheese in an air fryer?

Yes, in a small dish that fits the air fryer. As a guide, about 180 °C for 15–20 minutes, then sprinkle with cheese and cook for another 3–5 minutes until crusty; the time depends on the air fryer.

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