Spring is in full force and lighter fare is in order. My latest 8 & $20—Arctic Char with Orange Scented Fennel and Onions —fits the bill perfectly.
I had roughly two portions leftover when I made this dish most recently, and the leftover makeover was every bit as exciting as the original dish. Moreover, it all came together in about 40 minutes, despite looking like a complex dish. I used this simple, quick batter from MarthaStewart.com for the crepes, but you can certainly use any version you like. Prepare the batter first, then you can move on to the sauce while you allow the batter to sit. (You could also easily swap in tortillas for a take of enchiladas.)
This sauce also uses up the fennel stalks which were leftover from the Arctic Char preparation, so nothing is going to waste. Despite being creamy, I kept the flavors simple and bright, but there’s a beautiful richness to the dish when all the pieces come together.
I had roughly two portions leftover when I made this dish most recently, and the leftover makeover was every bit as exciting as the original dish. Moreover, it all came together in about 40 minutes, despite looking like a complex dish. I used this simple, quick batter from MarthaStewart.com for the crepes, but you can certainly use any version you like. Prepare the batter first, then you can move on to the sauce while you allow the batter to sit. (You could also easily swap in tortillas for a take of enchiladas.)
This sauce also uses up the fennel stalks which were leftover from the Arctic Char preparation, so nothing is going to waste. Despite being creamy, I kept the flavors simple and bright, but there’s a beautiful richness to the dish when all the pieces come together.
Arctic Char with Orange Scented Fennel and Onions. Photo credit: Greg Hudson.
Fennel Sauce
Yields about 2 cups of sauce
Ingredients
Olive oil
4 Fennel Stalks, sliced ½ onion, diced
2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp butter, softened
⅓ - ½ cup white wine
Juice of 1 to 1 ½ lemon(s)
1 cup of water
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Instructions
1. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a pan and add the fennel, onions, and pinch of salt. Sweat until tender.
2. Add butter to the pan. Once it’s melted, sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and cook for a 1-2 minutes. Deglaze the pan with wine, then add the lemon juice and the water. Allow the sauce to cook until it’s thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Transfer the mixture to a blender and mix until smooth and adjust seasoning. Keep warm until ready to serve.
(The sauce will stay warm in the blender for a reasonable amount of time while preparing the crepes.)
Arctic Char Crepes for 2
Components
Crepe batter for 4 crepes - Save any extras for another use.Fennel sauce (recipe above)
Olive oil
Leftover Arctic Char and Fennel
Fennel fronds for garnish (optional)
Microgreens for garnish (optional)
Instructions
1. Heat a small amount of olive in a pan, add the vegetables to the pan, then flake in any remaining fish. Warm gently over medium heat.2. While fish mixture is re-heating, prepare crepes in a greased skillet as per recipe.
3. When crepes are ready, evenly distribute the fish mixture between the crepes, then roll up the crepes.
4. Serve 2 crepes per plate and top with the fennel sauce. Garnish with micro-greens and fennel fronds if using.
These dishes proved really versatile when it came to wine-matching, so I have multiple options to share. This Soave Classico from Pieropan was our favorite match for the Arctic Char, and it also worked very well with the crepes
However, both this and this Grüner and Sauvignon Blanc also made for solid matches.
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