Grilled Redfish & Crabmeat with Lemon-Butter Sauce

Grilled redfish topped with warm crabmeat and a rich lemon-butter sauce. This one’s built for company.

Serves 6
Grill + Sauté
Sauce Included

Ingredients

  • About 1 tbsp salad oil (not olive oil), for brushing grill rack and fish
  • ¼ cup good-quality dry white wine, divided (plus a few tbsp if grilling in batches)
  • 6 skinless redfish fillets (6 to 8 oz each), neatly trimmed with “belly” removed
  • 2 tbsp Creole seasoning
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 lb jumbo lump crabmeat, picked
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • Warm French bread (for the table)
Tip: Watch the grill closely—fish overcooks fast. Keep the crab lumps intact when tossing.

Directions

  1. Clean grill rack and preheat until hot. Add wood chips if you like. Brush rack with oil using paper towels held with tongs.
  2. Prepare the lemon-butter sauce (below) and keep warm.
  3. Brush both sides of fillets with salad oil. Season evenly on both sides with Creole seasoning (about ½ tsp per side per fillet).
  4. Grill fillets about 2½ to 4 minutes per side, turning at least once. (Time varies with heat and thickness.)
  5. If cooking in batches, hold cooked fillets warm and drizzle with a little white wine to keep moist.
  6. While fish grills, sauté crabmeat: melt butter in a sauté pan over medium-high until hot (~3 min). Add ¼ cup wine for 30 seconds.
  7. Add crabmeat, salt, and pepper. Cook ~2 minutes until just warmed through, tossing gently.
  8. Plate: put one fillet on each warm plate, top with crabmeat, and spoon lemon-butter sauce over.

Lemon-Butter Sauce

Sauce Ingredients

  • 1½ cups good-quality dry white wine
  • ½ cup fresh lemon juice
  • ½ tsp minced or finely grated lemon zest
  • 1 tsp apple-cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp minced shallots
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 tsp (packed) minced fresh thyme leaves
  • 2 tbsp heavy cream
  • 7/8 lb cold unsalted butter (3½ sticks), cut into ~20 pats
  • 1 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)
  • ¼ tsp black pepper (or to taste)
Combine wine, lemon juice/zest, vinegar, shallots, garlic, and thyme. Reduce hard, then whisk in butter slowly.

Sauce Directions

  1. In a nonreactive saucepan, combine wine, lemon juice and zest, vinegar, shallots, garlic, and thyme. Reduce to 1–2 tbsp (~5 min).
  2. Add cream and reduce again to 1–2 tbsp (~4 min).
  3. Reduce heat to medium-low. Whisk in butter 2 pats at a time until emulsified (10–15 min total).
  4. Whisk in salt and pepper. Strain if serving right away; otherwise keep warm over hot (not simmering) water and serve within 1 hour.

Want more recipe ideas?

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