Deep-Fried Cream Dory with White Pesto Cream Sauce

Cream Dory is a fish and is a member of the carp family. Compared to most fishes, Cream Dory has lesser or even no stench most of the time. The very plain fish flavor makes it more easy to infuse flavor and be more creative in doing so. We had this for dinner the other night with a very simple recipe I made out of what we have in the fridge.

Deep-Fried Cream Dory with White Pesto Cream Sauce

White Pesto Cream Sauce

We shall start with the sauce. In a saucepan, saute garlic in olive oil and a tbsp butter. Pour in 1 cup of light cream or evaporated milk. Simmer for 5mins or until cream thickens. Add chopped basil leaves and crushed pine nuts. Now some may not have basil or pine nuts handy so here's the clever part, you may add 2 1/2 tbsp of McCormick Pesto Pasta Mix which you may find at grocery stores and the taste is just as good. Season with pepper and salt and a dash of sugar. Add 1/4 cup of water to loosen up the sauce a bit then simmer for another 5mins until desired sauce consistency. Do not overcook as the cream might burn, not cool (lol). Set aside for plating.

For the fish, we shall start with half a pound filleted cream dory seasoned with salt and pepper. Now it gets more interesting with the batter I used for this recipe. Crush 2 Skyflakes Onion and Chives Flavor (onion and chives-flavored soda crackers) until it's coarse enough to coat. In a small bowl, mix a quarter cup of milk, 1 tbsp mayonnaise, 1 tsp cream cheese. Dip the fish into the liquid mixture and coat with crushed flakes, be generous on the coating. In a fryer, heat up oil at just the right level that the coated fillet may soak into the oil fully. At just the right temperature, dip in each fillet for 3-4 mins or until golden brown. Make sure the oil is very hot so the batter would stick and cook on each fillet without falling off. Set aside on a paper towel to drain excess oil.

Deep-fried Dory in a Crispy Onion and Chives Batter

The crispy crunch of the batter. The soft and moist fillet. The creamy pesto cream sauce. I'm going nuts reminiscing how tasty this was. I should be doing this again, for sure. Try it! Enjoy.