Louisa's Baked Haddock with Lemon Sauce

As you must know by now we hail from Massachusetts and as such do enjoy sea food. Well haddock happens to be one of the finest "white fish" available from the cold local waters. Often breaded and deep fried (Superior to be sure), Louisa makes this dish (with my meddling) which we both enjoy. We hope you will also.

INGREDIENTS:

2  6 oz. Haddock fillets
4 Tbsp. dry white wine
2 oz. water
dash fresh ground black pepper

Breading:

1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
3 Tbsp melted butter
2 Tbsp fresh parsley
pinch of pepper

PREPARATIONS:

Wash the fillets removing any fat or bones, pat dry. Wash and finely chop the parsley. Mix the breading ingredients together and set aside. Measure out the wine, water and pepper. Place the fillets in a 9" inch baking dish* and set aside.

The Lemon sauce:

3 oz. Dry White wine                                               1 small Shallot
1-1/2 Tbsp fresh Lemon juice                                  1/2 cup heavy cream
3 black pepper corns                                               6 oz. Cold unsalted butter

Prep:

Peel the shallot and cut it lengthwise into quarters, do not separate the pieces. Juice the lemon and measure. Cut the butter into 1/4" slices and put back into the refrigerator for now. Preheat oven to 425 deg.

Cooking: Set a small sauce pan over low heat and add the pepper corns, shallot, wine and lemon juice. Simmer to reduce to about 2 Tbsp. with a syrupy consistency. Add the cream and continue to reduce the sauce to about 4 Tbsp. Remove the pan from the burner, and recover the butter from the refrigerator and begin adding a slice at a time, all the while stirring. Let each slice melt before adding the next until all are melted. If the last slice or two won't melt, return the pan to the heat and gently warm the sauce while stirring. Strain out the shallots and pepper corns and set the pan aside on an extremely low burner just barely keeping it warm.

ROASTING:

Having made the sauce, pour the water and wine over the fillets to moisten them. Grind on some fresh black pepper, top by spreading the bread crumb mix over the fillets. Pop the baking dish into the preheated oven and roast for 7 to 8 min. Check for doneness by pressing the fillets looking for a springiness, not mushy or hard resistance with a fork.

Remove the fillets to a serving dish neatly arraigning them. Drizzle the lemon sauce over the fillets and garnish with parsley sprigs.

* baking dish may be sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.