Barramundi Sauteed in Lemon Butter and Caper Sauce

Barramundi is a fish we first had when we went to Queensland, Australia for the Best Job in the World contest last year. It’s considered by some foodies to be the “next big fish” in terms of popularity. Barramundi is a white, hearty fish that seems unique in taste and texture. If I’ve ever come close to thinking a fish could taste like chicken, it’s with this one.

Barramundi is farm-raised in the United States and is starting to show up regularly in the frozen section. I got mine at a Kroger, and I’ve also gotten it at Wal-Mart.

Since the filets are thin, and it kind of has the taste and texture of chicken, it’s a good substitute for chicken or veal with a picatta sauce. I adapted my recipe from a couple others to make a single serving.

I gently sauteed the garlic in butter for 2 minutes and then squeezed in the juice of half a lemon. I added a little salt and a little pepper and remove the skillet from burner.

Each side of the filet needs to be coated lightly with olive oil. You could brush it on, but I used one of those olive oil pumps.

In the butter sauce, I pan fried one side of the filet on high for 3 minutes and then I flipped it and cooked it for about a minute-and-a-half more until it was cooked through.  I plated the fish and added heavy-cream to the pan. I mixed that all up and then poured what I wanted on top of the filet. I then added capers (after taking this photo) and salted and peppered like I like it.

It was good, y’all!