Having guests over and want to treat them to some delicious and beautiful looking home-made dishes? That aren’t going to take you half a day to prepare and cook? Go with this oven-cooked Sacré Chien on a bed of it’s red tomato basil chutney that is inspired by the Mauritian rougaille.
The Mauritian rougaille is a tomato sauce that is sweet yet tangy and accompanies many different produce easily. You could make a shrimp rougaille, a beef rougaille, egg rougaille… the possibilities are endless. But today we’ll be making the sauce separate from the Sacré Chien fish, to give it more of a “Michelin star” flare in the presentation.
The Sacré Chien (known as the Flamed Snapper) is a fish easily found in Mauritius, we buy ours from Restaurant Rêve D’r. A restaurant in the north of the island that also sells fresh & frozen seafood. We’ve always had a great experience buying our seafood from them and all at a great price. We discovered their produce during the COVID-19 lockdown when they launched their delivery service. Since then we’ve been ordering our fix of seafood produce every few weeks.
Why the Sacré Chien fish?
Personally i’m a very picky fish eater, i’m not a big fan of fish that are too “fishy” or have too much of an ocean sea water taste. But once i discovered the Sacré Chien fish I was amazed by how light and flaky this fish was. Even the skin didn’t have a strong “fishy” taste! So if you’re like me, definitely try it, I promise you’ll love it! Also the beautiful red colour of the skin is sure to make your table looking colourfully appetising.
With this recipe we’re going to ensure that your fish is perfectly cooked to get a moist, flaky and tender piece of cooked fish which is going to be the star of the dish and the table! The tomato sauce inspired by the Mauritian rougaille will then compliment your fish perfectly to impress your guest(s).
So lets get to it!
Oven-cooked Sacré Chien & tomato basil sauce (rougaille inspired)
Course: Savoury, Main, FishCuisine: VariousDifficulty: Easy4
person30
minutes19
minutes40
minutesIngredients
1kg Sacré Chien Fish
Olive oil
Butter (you’ll need approx. 1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoons pepper
1 tablespoon garlic & herbs mix
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- The Sauce
6 medium sized tomatoes
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 an onion finely chopped
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
Basil leaves or Dried basil
Sugar
salt
pepper
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 210C/410F and line your tray with aluminium foil
- Clean and cut the Sacré Chien fish into 4-5 equal pieces
- Place Sacré Chien pieces on the lined tray, starting with the skin side up, drizzle some olive oil enough to lightly coat the fish
- Sprinkle half of the salt, pepper, garlic & herb mix and smoked paprika and with your hands rub it all over and on the sides so all ingredients added are evenly spread
- Flip the fish so it is skin down and repeat the same process, from here you can add a bit of the ingredients to taste and flip it back to skin side up
- Let rest for 20 mins
- Cut 2 thin slices of butter per fish fillet and place on top of each fillet
- Put the tray in the oven one level below the middle rack
- Let cook for 10 mins then take out the tray and using a basting brush, brush the melted butter on the top and sides of each fish fillet covering it well with the butter
- Put the tray back in the oven for 9 more mins and it’s done! You’ll notice the edges will be a grilled and brown and sizzling and that’s just enough for the inside to still be moist and juicy
- Tomato Chutney
- While your fish is cooking in the oven, finely chop up your tomatoes keeping the insides and seeds until lit looks like a purée with a mix between square chunks and puréed pieces
- Finely chop basil leaves, garlic & onion
- Heat a pan at medium heat and drizzle some vegetable oil
- Add in the chopped garlic and tomatoes and let sizzle for about 2 mins
- Add in your dijon mustard and mix and let sizzle again and lower the heat to low-medium
- Add little bit little your salt, pepper & sugar to taste – always taste your sauce, if it’s tangy add more sugar
- Add in basil and mix well then turn off the heat
- You’ll end up with a semi sauce semi purée texture and you know you’re good to go
- Plating
- On a large plate, place some of your tomato chutney in the middle, from there you can play with a spoon and spread it across, or have it in a line, a circle – get creative!
- Place your fish right on top diagonally and add a few pieces of parsley for colour and decor
Notes
- Always taste your sauce, don’t add in too much seasoning at first and slowly add to taste
- If you see that the fish has started browning at 19 mins don’t leave it in for more, 2 mins more can make your fish dry
