Snapper with soy sauce and butter

Take your fish dish to the next level with this shoyu butter sauce, inspired by France’s beurre blanc. Soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar bring a teriyaki-like sweetness to the sauce, while butter adds a subtle richness to this seafood meal that is ready in less than 15 minutes.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  2

• prep

  5 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 thin leek, trimmed
• 4 white asparagus, stalks peeled
• 2 snapper fillets (or sea bream)
• Salt
• Lime wedges, to serve

For the butter shoyu

• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 2 tbsp sake
• 1 tsp sugar
• 10 g butter

Instructions

1. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add the vegetable oil. Add the leek and asparagus to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, or until softened.
2. Season the fish fillets on both sides with salt, then place into the pan, skin-side down. Press firmly with a weight or spatula for 30 seconds, or until the skin relaxes. Flip the fish and cook until cooked through (cooking time will depend on thickness of the fillet).
3. Remove the fish to a large serving plate. Remove the vegetables to a cutting board and cut the leek and asparagus into 5 cm pieces. Transfer to the serving plate with the fish.
4. Wipe the pan out with a paper towel, then return to the heat with the soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar. Add the butter and mix well to emulsify. Alternatively, you can just fry the ingredients together so that the soy sauce splits into the butter.
5. Spoon the butter shoyu over the snapper and vegetables and serve with lime wedges on the side.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

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The Cook Up with Adam Liaw

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