Pan-Seared Fish with Brown Butter: Cooking Through Cravings

When we first moved to Manhattan over a decade ago, my wife and I would eat pasta and meatballs a few times a week. It was a cheap, easy meal and allowed us to splurge on an occasional fish dish. Today, we are much more thoughtful and balanced in our meal prep. We like to have at least one meat, one fish, and one vegetarian dish every week. Salmon is a more likely fish dish, but we love cod tacos. But sometimes we venture out and try new fish, like snapper. That’s the fish we used for this pan-seared fish dish.

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This fish dish was really good and it was really easy to make. The herby brown butter sauce really takes a simple dish and elevates it to a date-night worthy dinner. If you’re making this dish, we recommend an easy green vegetable and a side of parmesan mashed potatoes or rice.

Making the pan-seared fish dish

It’s so easy to make. Like really easy. All you need to do is heat up a dry skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, you’ll drop in some oil until shimmery and then add fish (after patting dry and seasoning the fish with salt and pepper). And just let the fish cook, do not move it yet. Once the bottom is golden and caramelized, then you’ll carefully turn over the fish. At this moment is when you’ll add the herby butter to the pan.

The butter is made up of butter (duh), cilantro, garlic, shallots, salt, pepper, and a whole lemon’s worth of zest. Towards the end of the fish cooking, spoon the butter over the fish. After moving the fish to a plate, drizzle with more of that delicious herby butter. Squeeze a little lemon over the fish, and garnish with any more salt and pepper as needed, and cilantro. Don’t forget your sides!