Fish fillet with corn sauce

I’m starting a new category called “Cooking For One” and this fish fillet with corn sauce is the first entry. See, on weekdays, there’s just myself in the house for lunch. Most times, I’m too lazy to cook. I survive on sandwiches and whatever leftovers there are from the previous night’s meal. Then, one day, I realized that being alone on weekdays is the best opportunity for experimenting and cooking dishes that might not look nor sound too attractive to my kids.

I’ve been cooking my lunch for about a week now and this fish and corn dish was one of them. Nothing radical here. The challenge was not to cook too much. You know, just enough for a single serving. If I cook more than that, I might be tempted to help myself to second servings and, well… that can’t be good. Anyway, let’s see how productive future experiments go.

You can cook this dish with fresh corn kernels or you can use canned corn kernels. If you opt for fresh corn kernels, I suggest Japanese sweet corn. Local white corn may be good for boiling and making soups but not for a dish like this one. This fish dish requires crisp and sweet corn kernels.

I used canned corn kernels to cook what you see in the photo. If you want the fresh corn version, there is a recipe in my archives, one of the very first I posted on a blog.

Ingredients :

1 fish fillet
5 tbsps. of cooking oil
1 tbsp. of flour
1 tbsp. of butter
1/2 tbsp. of flour
3/4 c. of corn water (from the can of corn kernels)
1/2 c. of drained corn kernals
salt, pepper to taste
chopped fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

Cooking procedure :

Season the fish fillet with salt and pepper. Dust with flour.

Heat the cooking oil in a frying pan. Cook the fish fillet on both sides until browned. Keep the heat at medium-high so that a crisp crust forms on the outside of the fish while the inside remains moist. NEVER overcook fish.

Drain the cooked fish fillet on absorbent paper towels.

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter. Add the flour all at once, stirring to prevent lumps from forming. Cook over medium-low heat for a few minutes to cook the flour thoroughly and remove any trace of floury taste. Pour in the corn water slowly, stirring constantly as you pour. Add the corn kernels and cook until the corn kernels are heated through. Off the heat, season with salt and pepper.

Pour the corn sauce over the fish. Sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro for an added zing.