Ryba po grecku (Polish fish with carrots and tomato)
Golden pan-fried fish under a sweet, tangy blanket of carrots, onion and tomato, the Polish Christmas Eve dish that’s even better the next day.
- 55 min total
- 40 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $1.95 a serving
- 340 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 4 carrots, coarsely grated
- 1 parsnip, coarsely grated (optional)
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1¼ lb frozen white fish fillets, thawed, patted dry and cut into serving pieces
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil, divided
- 1 cup water
- 1 bay leave
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1¼ tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
Each serving has about 340 calories, 24 g protein, 20 g carbs and 19 g fat, and costs about $1.95 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a large over medium heat. Cook the onion, carrots and parsnip for 12 to 15 minutes, often, until very soft.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 13 min 30 sec
in the tomato paste and cook 1 minute, then add the water, bay leaf, sugar, vinegar, ¾ teaspoon of the salt and the pepper.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
on low for 10 minutes, until thick and jammy. Take out the bay leaf and spoon the vegetables into a bowl.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 10 min
the fish with the rest of the salt and dust it lightly in the flour.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Wipe out the , add the rest of the oil and heat it over medium-high heat. Fry the fish 3 to 4 minutes per side, until and it flakes easily.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min
Food safety: Fish is done at 145°F, when the middle looks opaque and flakes apart easily with a fork.
Lay the fish in a single layer in a serving dish and spread the warm vegetables over it.
Scatter the parsley over and serve warm, or cool, cover and chill it overnight to serve cold, the traditional way.
Dolly’s tip: It really is better the next day, once the fish has soaked up the sauce. It keeps 3 days in the fridge.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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