Pan-cooked sea bream, trout or salmon with plenty of onions
Ingredients:
- Fish fillets, skin-on (800 g)
- Onions (800 g)
- Olive oil (3 tbsp)
- Dry white wine (100 ml)
- Water (100 ml)
- Thyme (4 sprigs)
- Lemon (1/2)
- Salt
- Black pepper
Method:
A soft bed of onions for your favourite fish
The onions are a full part of this dish, not a little garnish. Cooked slowly, they become sweet and silky, catching the juices of the fish laid on top. This recipe serves four and takes about 50 minutes. Use four skin-on sea bream fillets of about 200 g each, or the same weight of trout or salmon fillets. The method stays the same; thickness determines the final cooking time.
Give the onions time
Peel and thinly slice the onions. Warm the olive oil in a broad, deep frying pan with a lid, add the onions and a small pinch of salt, and stir for two minutes over medium heat. Add 50 ml of the water, cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Uncover and cook for another 5–10 minutes, until the onions are very soft and lightly golden. Add a splash from the remaining water if they catch. Pour in the wine, raise the heat briefly and simmer uncovered for three minutes. Add the thyme and the rest of the water. You want moist, yielding onions with a little juice, not a dry frying surface or a deep broth.
Cook the fish on top
Check the fillets for pin bones and remove any with fish tweezers. Pat dry and season lightly with salt and pepper. Spread the onions evenly, lay the fillets on top skin-side down in one layer and cover. Cook over low heat, keeping the liquid at a gentle simmer.
Start checking thin sea bream or trout fillets after 6–8 minutes; thicker salmon portions may take 10–14 minutes. These are guides, not fixed deadlines: the thickest part should reach 63°C, with opaque flesh that separates into flakes. Do not turn the fillets. Here the skin stays soft because the fish cooks gently on the onions rather than being seared against the pan.
Serve with all those onions
Remove the thyme stems and squeeze a little lemon over the fish. Lift the fillets onto warm plates and divide all the onions and pan juices alongside. If the liquid is too thin, lift the fish out first and reduce it briefly uncovered. Serve with boiled potatoes or bread to make the most of the sweet onion sauce; a little extra lemon at the table brings everything into focus.