Red Snapper with Butter Tartare Sauce

This visually amazing Red Snapper with Butter Tartare Sauce recipe tastes even better than it looks, believe it or not! The simplicity of this recipe is what truly sets it apart from the rest. You can make a restaurant-quality fine dining Fish recipe at home in under 20 minutes that is sure to impress!

This amazing Red Snapper with Butter Tartare Sauce is inspired by the restaurant Fallow in the UK. The lads share their amazing cooking skills through their YouTube channel, this dish being one of them. We took inspiration from their recipe, made a few tweaks, and here we are!

The core of this beautiful dish lies in the velvety smooth Butter Sauce

Like so many great dishes, the real unsung hero is the sauce. A great sauce can completely transform a dish, and this Butter Tartare Sauce is no exception. It’s a fun, ‘cheffy’ kind of sauce that is easy to make at home

The sauce is a combination of two classic, popular sauces. That being a classic Tartare Sauce and a Butter Sauce. A classic Tartare is a Mayonnaise based sauce flavored with Vinegar, Capers, and Pickles. A Butter Sauce is generally prepared in the classic French way (known as Beurre-Blanc), consisting of Butter than has been emulsified with White Wine and Vinegar, and typically cooked with Shallots and some aromatics

Combining the two unique sauces into one, composed sauce is such a creative idea, and one that we are truly impressed by. The sharpness of the Tartare with its vinegary, caper flavor is balanced perfectly with the luscious, creaminess of the Butter sauce

The inclusion of Tarragon really elevates the flavor and aroma in this wonderful sauce

What elevates this sauce to true culinary heights is the inclusion of one of my favorite herbs. Tarragon is one of that underappreciated herbs that goes about unassumingly in the kitchen completely transforming dishes

Tarragon has a slight aniseed flavor, yet when added to sauces brings such a unique flavor and aroma to the dish. It is popularly used in the famous French Sauce known as Béarnaise Sauce. This sauce does lend a little bit from a classic Béarnaise, and you can taste the similarities with the pairing of Vinegar and Shallots with Tarragon

Making the simple Butter Sauce only required two ingredients to kick it off, Butter and Water!

Creating the base ‘mother sauce’ for our Red Snapper with Butter Tartare Sauce is simple, and only requires Butter and Water. You’ll need a ratio of 5:2 Butter to Water. So, for 50g of Butter, you will need 20g of Water. You will need a bit more than that to make enough Sauce, however. We doubled it, so 100g Butter to 40g of Water. This was enough for two people

Add the Water to a saucepan over medium heat. Once warm, add 75% of the Butter, reserving the last 25% for the final step. Whisk the Butter into the Water constantly until it is well combined. Avoid boiling the liquid, just keep it warm so it mixes well

Once well mixed (a few minutes should do it), add the remaining Butter and then hit the sauce with an immersion blender. Continue to blend the sauce for several minutes until it completely emulsifies. You will be able to tell once it’s done as it will form a silky, texture and the color will turn a light, almost cream-like color

You can make this sauce in the blender if you don’t have an immersion blender. I find that the blender works if you are using larger quantities of ingredients. For smaller quantities it is better to keep it all in the saucepan and emulsify using an immersion blender

 Once you’ve prepared the Butter sauce it’s time for the Tartare / Beurre Blanc components

You can set that Butter Sauce aside now and begin to work on the Tartare components of the dish. To do so, add some Vinegar and White Wine into a saucepan along with the Shallots and Garlic. For even more flavor, try adding the Tarragon stems (just remember to remove them along with the Garlic before serving!) You want to cook this enough so that the liquid completely absorbs into the Shallots, soaking up all that flavor

Once the pan is relatively dry, add the Butter Sauce along with some freshly chopped Pickles, Capers, and for a little bit of a kick, some Horseradish. Mix this all through until the ingredients are nicely combined and then you are ready! Season the dish with Salt, Pepper, and Lemon Juice and give it a taste. Your sauce is now done!

You can make the sauce in advance and simply re-heat it over a low heat with a little bit of Water. Alternatively, and if multi-tasking is your thing, you can prepare this sauce at the same time as you cook the Fish

Any meaty White Fish will work great in this recipe

We used Red Snapper when preparing this dish, but there are so many choices that will work. We chose Red Snapper purely because on the day we went down to the local Fish Market, it is what was looking the best out of all of the options. Fish is, of course, location based and seasonal. So, there will likely be different options for you to consider when looking for a good White Fish to cook based on where you live, and what time of year it is

Red Snapper is a very popular dish, and commonly available in loads of places around the world. If you can’t get your hands on some Snapper there are plenty of other options you can swap it out for. Some other great, meaty White Fish options include Cod, Haddock, Halibut, Sea Bass, Rockling, or Tilapia

All you really need is a Fish that is going to hold up well to a pan fry over medium heat and keep it’s shape. We want a Fish that is going to form beautiful flakes of tender Fish once cut into with a fork. If you are unsure what Fish works best in your area, just ask your local fishmonger and they’ll help you out

A good rule of thumb I like to stick to when briefing Fish Mongers for recipes like this is to just tell them your making Fish and Chips! The characteristics of the Fish is very similar, and given Fish and Chips is so wildly popular, this will steer them in the right direction

Hey, you can even buy a little bit more and make some Fish and Chips yourself. We’ve got a ridiculously good Fish and Chips recipe here that you definitely need to try!

Simply pan fry the Fish until it’s perfectly cooked and flaky

There are no fancy tricks with cooking the fish in this dish. Just simply season the Fish with Salt and Pepper and pan fry it for a few minutes in the frying pan with a little bit of Oil. Once you get a nice browning on one side, flip the Fish over and cook for a few more minutes until cooked through

The cooking time on the Fish will greatly depend on its thickness, as different fish filets have different sizes. You can also use a kitchen thermometer to check the temperature in the middle of the pieces of Fish. Once the internal temperature hits 130F, it’s done!

To place the dish, simply ladle out a generous portion of that amazing Sauce and place the Fish straight on top. The Red Snapper with Butter Tartare Sauce looks so good on the plate! You’ll be amazed at how sophisticated the flavors are for a dish that is so easy to make

Red Snapper with Butter Tartare Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 lb. Red Snapper (or similar Flaky White Fish)
• 1 tsp. Neutral Oil (eg: Vegetable or Canola Oil)
• 100g Unsalted Butter, cut into cubes
• 40g Water
• 1 tbsp. Capers, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp. Pickles, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp. Horseradish
• 1 Shallot, finely diced
• 1 Garlic Clove, peeled and cut in half
• 1 tbsp. Tarragon Leaves, roughly chopped
• ½ cup of White Wine
• 1 tbsp. of White Vinegar
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• Zest of ½ a Lemon
• Salt
  
  

Instructions

1. Place 75% of the Butter and 40g of Water in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk for 2 minutes until well combined
2. Add the remaining Butter into the saucepan and blitz with an Immersion Blender for 2 minutes until a smooth cream-like sauce forms. Pour Sauce into a container and set aside
3. In the same Saucepan, add the Shallots, Garlic, White Vinegar, and White Wine over medium heat and cook until all the liquid has absorbed
4. Remove the Garlic then add Capers, Pickles, Horseradish, Lemon Zest, Lemon Juice, and Tarragon along with the Butter Sauce. Mix well for about 1 minute to combine and then it is ready to serve
   
   

Cooking the Fish and Plating

5. Cut the Fish into evenly sized portions about 4 oz. each. Season with Salt and Pepper
6.  Heat the Oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the Fish and pan fry for 3minutes on one side. Flip and cook for a further 1 minute until the internal temperature of the fish is 120F
7. Remove from heat and set aside to rest for 5 minutes. You can add the pan juices from the Fish into the Butter sauce
8. Plate the dish by adding a generous ladle of Butter sauce to a plate or bowl. Add two pieces of Fish on top and serve with some Lemon Wedges and Flaky Salt
   
   

Recipe Notes

• When whisking the Butter and Water together, keep the pan warm, but not hot enough that the mixture begins to boil
• For more Tarragon flavor, try adding the stems to the Vinegar and Shallots. Just remember to remove them once you add the Butter Sauce
  
  

We know you’re just going to love this beautiful, delicious plate of Red Snapper with Butter Tartare Sauce. The flavors this dish produces are amazing, especially for something so simple to make!

For more amazing Seafood recipes, check out some of our favorites:

• Red Line Diner Salmon and Berry Salad
• Pan Fried Cod with Butter Sauce
• Shrimp Aguachile
• Shrimp and Grits with Chorizo
  
  

Happy Cooking!