Zander Fillet in Tomato Sauce

Name: Zander Fillet in Tomato Sauce - Easy Fish Recipe
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Zander fillet 4; Ripe tomatoes 3-5; Vegetable oil 3-4 tbsp; Bell pepper 1; Garlic 1-2 cloves; Sugar 0.5 tsp (2 g); Flour for dredging; Salt, ground black pepper to taste; Water or vegetable broth if the puree is too thick; Fresh herbs for garnish

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60 mins

Today we have fish with tomatoes and vegetables. Surely everyone knows the canned goods known as “fish in tomato sauce”. And surely everyone has a favorite.

I remember small tins of sprats in tomato sauce from childhood. And from some movie, gobies in tomato sauce. I admit the gobies didn’t stick in my memory. For all the variety of dishes, recipes for fish in tomato sauce are by and large very similar, but the quality and type of fish, the set and amount of spices, and the cooking technique can change the taste of the dish quite a lot.

The tomato is an amazing vegetable. Although people still argue about whether a tomato is a vegetable or a berry, and even courts in many countries have made certain rulings. By all botanical signs, a tomato is a berry.

It is a plant grown as a vegetable crop almost everywhere. The Italian name means “golden apple”, pomo d’oro. A native of the New World, born in South America, the tomato was called tomatl by the Aztecs. Europeans later began calling it the tomato.

Thanks to their nutritional value, great variety of cultivars and excellent taste, tomatoes have firmly taken their rightful place in the cuisines of the world. Fresh tomatoes are an excellent component of many salads, and even of simple appetizers.

Unlike the canned kind, fresh fish in tomato sauce is a homemade dish and a more desirable one. First of all, you need fish. Sea fish is best: cod, pollock, hake. But I recommend river zander fillet. Common zander is a widespread and affordable fish. Its lean, nutritious flesh cooks easily and goes well with vegetables, especially tomato.

More with pike perch

Baked Zander with Tomatoes and Fried Onion in the Oven

1 h 15 min

Batter for Fish Fillets

40 min

Baked Zander Fillet with Cheese

1 h 30 min

Stuffed Zander

1 h 30 min

Homemade Ukha Fish Soup

50 min

More zander recipes

Ingredients

2 servings

Zander fillet 4
Ripe tomatoes 3-5
Vegetable oil 3-4 tbsp
Bell pepper 1
Garlic 1-2 cloves
Sugar 0.5 tsp (2 g)
Flour for dredging
Salt, ground black pepper to taste
Water or vegetable broth if the puree is too thick
Fresh herbs for garnish

Step-by-step recipe

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Frying the zander

The dish turns out best with fillets. Usually, after it is caught, zander is scaled and gutted. Then, if there is a lot of it, it is frozen. When needed, the fish is taken out of the freezer and thawed.
Prepare the zander fillet. I usually just gut the zander without scaling it. After thawing, I simply cut the fillet off the skin in slabs. The scales have no effect on the process whatsoever. What’s more, it is even easier to do this way, because the skin doesn’t tear.
Cut the finished fillet crosswise into 3-4 pieces and lay them on a large flat plate, skin side down. Season the fillet with salt and pepper to taste.
Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet. Dredge the zander pieces in flour and fry over medium heat on both sides until golden brown.
Since zander is a river fish, the fillet should be cooked through well. It’s even worth covering the skillet with a lid and letting it sit over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Making the tomato puree

While the fish cooks, prepare the tomato puree. The tomatoes must be ripe. Broadly speaking, you can use canned tomato flesh, especially out of vegetable season.
Scald the tomatoes with boiling water and peel off the skins. Halve the tomatoes and remove all the seeds and the remains of the stem. You need only the flesh.
Put the tomato flesh in a blender. Add the seeded, chopped red bell pepper and the peeled garlic. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add half a teaspoon of sugar (2 g). Blend everything to a puree. If the puree is too thick, you can thin it a little with water or vegetable broth.

Stewing the fish in tomato

Once the fish is done, carefully pour the prepared tomato and vegetable puree over it right in the skillet.
Use a fork to move the pieces of zander fillet slightly apart so the sauce spreads between the fried fish.
Cover the skillet with a lid and bring the liquid to a boil. The fish in tomato sauce will cook for about 10 minutes over medium heat. Then remove the lid and let the excess liquid evaporate until the tomato sauce reaches the thickness you want.

Serving

Once the sauce has thickened enough, put the fish on plates. Fish in tomato sauce looks great garnished with fresh herbs.

Calories and macros

655 kcal

Serving ≈ 550 g

Protein79 g51% of kcal
Fat30 g42% of kcal
Carbs11 g7% of kcal

100 g119 kcalProtein 14.4 gFat 5.4 gCarbs 2 g

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

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