Lime Cilantro Butter Sauce

So remember how I was drooling for days after eating at La Jolla?  Well, I wondered if I could somehow recreate their Salmon baked in Cilantro Butter Sauce.  I googled it, and TONS of recipes came up.  So of course, I had to try!

I have tried two so far: one very simple one - it's not the real deal, but does the trick if I'm short on time and some more complicated ingredients, and one that is more complicated, but very delicious, and still not that hard.  So, if you love cilantro and seafood, be sure to try this out - it can go with pretty much anything 20,000 leagues under the sea!

Cilantro Garlic Butter

1 lime cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Squeeze half of the lime wedges onto the fish, season with salt and pepper.  Bake the fish.  In a small saucepan, heat the oil and then add the garlic.  Let the garlic cook for about 2 minutes and then stir in the butter, remaining lime juice, and chopped cilantro.  Pour the cilantro garlic butter over the fish and enjoy!

Lime Cilantro Butter Sauce
Adapted from a recipe at laylita.com

1/4 cup water
1 medium sized shallot
4 garlic cloves
juice from 2 limes
lime zest (as much or as little as you want)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 serrano pepper (or more if you want more kick)
1/4 cup butter
1 bunch of cilantro
salt to taste

Put water in a medium-sized saucepan on medium heat.  Mince the shallot and garlic cloves.  Add the minced shallots and garlic, the lime juice, lime zest and cream to the water.  Let simmer on low to medium heat for about 10 minutes.  Chop the serrano pepper into fine pieces and add it to the sauce.  Then add a little bit of the butter at a time until it melts into the mixture.  Remove from heat.  Chop up the cilantro and add it, then pour all of the sauce into a blender or a food processor, until it reaches a smoother consistency (about 1 minute).  Add salt to taste.  Serve with any seafood.

A couple of things about this recipe.  First, can I just say how awesome it made me feel to cook with a shallot?  Yeah, it did.  That was definitely something on my bucket list :)  Second, I served this with tilapia and rice, but I know it would be delicious with salmon as well.  Third, when we had this, I really did think it was delicious, but I felt like it was missing something.  Oh yeah, the salt.  Oops.  Salt is a very key ingredient, and really brings out the flavor, so don't forget that key ingredient!