Sesame Baked Fish
I can still remember the very first time I made this dish. I was a stay-at-home Mum with a 3 month old baby daughter named Leah and I was hosting Sunday lunch to introduce her to my husband’s favourite Aunt. That was over thirty eight years ago!!
I especially remember the crunchy crumb topping, but for some reason faded into the mists of time, I only ever prepared it that once. This a simple recipe from the pages of the Margaret Fulton Cookbook circa 1974, the book that is currently being featured on the Cookbook Guru.
Attention to detail is paramount to the success of this dish. It heavily depends on the golden brown sesame flecked crunchy crumb topping. My choice of spelt bread blitzed in the processor was a compromise, I know that good quality sourdough bread, roughly grated would have been a much better, but the toasty sesame flavour was scrumptious and the flathead fillets moist and delicious.
Served with a beautiful green salad, this is the perfect quick week night dinner.
800g white fish fillets, I chose flathead
2 cups coarsely torn sourdough bread
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds, (I included 1 tablespoon black sesame)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
90g butter, melted
Preheat the oven to 180C fan forced and line an ovenproof tray with baking paper.
Pat dry the fish on paper towels then lay it in a single layer on the paper lined tray. Use two trays rather than crowding it all together.
Season the fish with salt and spoon half the butter over
Mix together the coarse breadcrumbs, toasted sesame seeds, a generous grinding of black pepper and the remainder of the butter.
Scatter the crumb over the fish fillets.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until the fish flakes when tested and the crumb topping is golden brown.
Serves 4
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20 comments on “Sesame Baked Fish”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 
I’ll have to try this recipe soon as we eat a lot of fish…it sounds terrific.
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Thanks Karen, enjoy….
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Yummm… I love this recipe, Thank you!!
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Thanks Amy
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when I saw this dish ( last Thursday) I searched the cupboards of my son’s house for the topping ingredients. Sadly he didn’t have any sesame seeds. Then life went on, the flathead were cooked, and I forgot to comment.
I love dishes that preserve the moistness of the fish, especially something as subtle as flathead, and this looks like one of them.The black sesame is a nice touch too. I’ll get back to this dish as flathead is cheap and prolific in the markets at present.
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Enjoy….
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This looks absolutely fabulous!!! I love the sesame “crust,” not just a few sprinkled sesame seeds!
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I love the toasty flavour of sesame seeds, can’t use too many if you ask me
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What a lovely memory to have connecting Leah as a baby to this dish. And such a simple dinner too that comes together with not a lot of effort.
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Hi Nancy, it’s funny how memories of food are so vivid in my mind, just shows you what my brain’s focus is! It’s a quick, simple and tasty dish
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We love a good baked whitefish. I seem to be stuck on baking fish in parchment and I think this would be a great change from steamed to toasty. And you are right. Such a perfect week night dinner, ready in no time!
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Thanks Seana, It’s so simple and so good, a nice alternative to baking fish in parchment and just a few extra calories!
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Realizing my [at the moment] misplaced copy was an earlier version have just ‘done a Google’. Well mine dated from 1968 it seems and this recipe so shows it is still not dated: how simple a recipe but with so much taste! Found something interesting as well: there will be a new website for ‘Fulton & Family’ soonest and I surely have subscribed to the Newsletter: how wonderful, The Matriarch, The Daughter and two fully qualified granddaughters: Thanks you for the nudge Sandra!!
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It’s nostalgic cooking from this book again Eha, it was my very first cookbook. Some of it’s very dated, there are loads of classics, then there’s the simple gems, like this baked sesame fish. While I’m a generation behind MF, I have spurned a dynasty of cooks too.
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Sandra, I’m all for dining on a beautifully fresh piece of fish encrusted in toasty, sesame crumbs – this sounds perfectly delicious! Curious… do black sesame seeds taste different from light ones, or they mostly used for the colour/dramatic effect?
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Black sesame taste exactly the same, just added a spoonful for drama, goodness knows, it’s not the most glamorous looking thing!
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Reblogged this on The Cookbook Guru and commented:
Lady Red Specs has shared with us a tasty looking Sesame Baked Fish as the latest contribution to The Cookbook Guru. It’s wonderful to see so many of Margaret Fulton’s recipes linked with lovely memories.
Happy Reading,
Leah
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Cookbooks have so many untold stories connected to them. Great memory there Mrs R and what a tasty looking crust. Really like the idea of the sesame seeds.
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Sandra that sounds wonderful. I was wondering how I missed that recipe so I checked out my book and it is not in it. The double delight cake is also not in it. Clearly there is quite a difference in the editions.
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Ah, that’s interesting Glenda, maybe MF was scrambling to keep up with the rapidly changing food trends. It would be a great use for some of your delicious sourdough!
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