Austrian Fried Fish and Spinach Potatoes | Sara's Kitchen Witchcraft
- Sara Raztresen
- Aug 21
- 4 min read
God knows I had to find something to do with fish that wasn't bake it with lemon.
Man, I gotta tell you: it only took two trips to the farmer's market before I had to put a hard stop on my spending. Rhode Island farmers' markets go hard, with so much delicious food to buy—and of all the stuff I saw at our sweet Hope Street market in Providence, one thing I knew I had to try was local, fresh-caught fish.
And that's how I ended up walking away with a pound of striped sea bass that I honestly had no idea what to do with.
Going online didn't give me much inspiration, honestly. It was just the same "easy lemon sea bass" type shit over and over again. I knew I wanted a fish dish for this week, because this bass was so pretty and looked so tasty, but I just couldn't find anything that looked alright—until I got the hell off the internet and into my recipe books.
One book I got while in Klagenfurt a few years ago is called Kochen Wie Früher in Kärnten (Cooking Like Earlier in Carinthia) by Gudrun Steinkellner. Carinthia is the southern region of Austria, where Klagenfurt, Villach, and other such cities and towns are; it sits right on top of northern Slovenia, where my family is from, and so it's no wonder that this recipe book also has many Slovenian recipes in it, too (like pogača, štruklji, and potica). But as I was flipping through it, I noticed a recipe for grilled låxn, a type of brown trout. Like sea bass, it's a white fish (from the river instead of ocean), and the recipe called for fish with skin on, so this seemed perfect—along with the potatoes. I did add a couple things to this, but for the most part, that's where I got my recipe inspiration from today.
For this recipe, therefore, we're looking at a few key ingredients for our magic: nutmeg, potato, lemon, and onion. Let's take a look!
Magic in Austrian Fried Fish and Spinach Potatoes
When you want to get something done, but in a fun, peaceful way, this is a good dish to bring to the table. It's hearty enough to get you settled and ready to focus, but light enough with the fish as the main protein to still evoke feelings of summer—and with lemon for increasing friendship, nutmeg for luck, onion for wealth and banishing the bad vibes, and potato for healing and comfort, it's the kind of energy blend that'll make sure people stay feeling open and free to express themselves and form strong bonds on a team.
Here, a blend of water, earth, and a good deal of fire, along with elemental influences of the Moon, Mars, and Jupiter, this is a blend of influences that center more on the tangible and cozy than the abstract and eerebral. Inspiration and energy flare up in a way that’s grounded and sustainable, while ambition and luck are supported by intuition, emotional intelligene, and community-making skill. That’s exactly what we need when we’re looking to wake up our passions and build a strong team to work with!
Austrian Fried Fish and Spinach Potatoes
Prep time: 20min
Cook time: 20min
Makes 2-3 servings
Ingredients:
1 lb sea bass or other white fish, skin on
1 onion, diced
2 large potatoes, cut small
4-5 handfuls of spinach
1 fresh lemon
1/2 cup flour
1 stick of butter
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 Tbsp milk
(Optional) capers
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Cut your potatoes and add to a pot of salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until soft.
Fry one onion in a tablespoon of butter until soft, then add spinach and cook down, adding more over time.
Heat another tablespoon of butter in a pan once potatoes are almost done.
Dredge only the skin side of the fish in flour, then put in hot skillet.
Season fish with salt and pepper and fry until skins are crispy and golden before flipping.
While fish fries, add the rest of the butter to the potatoes and mash them up.
Add half a lemon's worth of juice to the spinach, as well as salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and then add cooked spinach and onion and mash together.
When the fish is done, remove from the pan and squeeze the other half of the lemon juice into the pan.
Scrape up the fried bits, then add milk and stir together in a sauce until slightly thickened.
Drizzle sauce over fish and serve with spinach potatoes. Add capers here if desired.
Serve with something sour, like pickles or sauerkraut.
This is a shockingly quick and easy dish, and the little pops of citrus and nutmeg only make it all the more interesting on your plate. Try it out when you want a light and delicious weeknight meal as the summer winds down, and enjoy! ♥
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Sara Raztresen is a Slovene-American writer, screenwriter, and Christian witch. Her fantasy works draw heavily on the wisdom she gathers from her own personal and spiritual experience, and her spiritual practice borrows much of the whimsy and wonder that modern society has relegated to fairy-and-folktale. Her goal is to help people regain their spiritual footing and discover God through a new (yet old) lens of mysticism.
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