This Yellowtail with Lemon Caper Cream Sauce and Spinach Orzo is a great pairing perfect for any season, but especially nice as a festive meal in the fall and winter. It is perfect for date night, and easy enough to make for a crowd! This is a great way to serve a good piece of fish with a super flavorful sauce without covering up the natural great taste of the fish.

Dutch Yellowtail
We chose Yellowtail for this preparation for its nice texture and ability to be pan seared to perfection without drying out too quickly (overcooked), or burning without cooking throughout (undercooked).
The fish is the star of the show, here, and the firm but flaky flesh of the Yellowtail really works well.
Selecting a high-quality fish is always the key to an excellent fish dish. For this reason we choose Dutch Yellowtail from Kingfish Zeeland. Dutch Yellowtail are certified and approved as sustainably-raised in environmentally friendly conditions. Specifically, they are raised antibiotic and GMO-free in a 100% green-energy, land-based farm using wind, solar, and biogas with a state-of-the-art recirculating aquaculture system, which protects biodiversity and ensures biosecurity. It can't get much better than that!
You can find Dutch Yellowtail in the frozen seafood section of Whole Foods Market in the US.

Please note: This post was sponsored by Kingfish Zeeland. All opinions are our own.
Pan Searing the Fish
We pan sear the fish in butter, basting as we go, and eventually the butter turns brown and lends even more nutty flavor to the fish. Getting both sides caramelized makes for a beautiful piece of protein, but also adds so much in the way of taste and texture to the fish.
This is a fairly easy preparation that lends a good amount of buttery flavor to the fish on its own. It also results in a beautiful presentation of the fish with a nice caramelized crust.
Lemon Caper Cream Sauce
This sauce is big in flavor and very nice with the fish. A little bit on the plate and you have a standout dish. In this sauce, we reduced the wine and then added a little more to reduce again. This adds another dimension of layered flavor to the sauce.
We use fish stock as the base of this Lemon Caper Cream Sauce. If you are worried about using a fish stock for a cream sauce, don’t be! Despite the initial aroma of fish stock that generally turns people off, the end result of the sauce has zero essence of “fishiness” and will complement the yellowtail much better compared to a vegetable or chicken stock. Just trust us on this one, you won't regret it!

Spinach Orzo
We love our pasta, and this is a great way to use orzo. A little lemon at the end brightens it up and creates a lightness not often found in pasta. The other element is using raw spinach. Adding the piping hot orzo right on top of the spinach allows the greens to wilt slightly, keep their vibrant color, and flavor, and retain the slightest bit of texture. Not to mention it is the easiest spinach preparation short of eating it out of your hand raw!
Enjoy!
We hope you enjoy this delicious Yellowtail with Lemon Caper Cream Sauce and Spinach Orzo recipe! If you give it a try, leave us a comment below or tag us on Instagram @cooking_with_wine!

Looking for more recipes like this? Check out some of our popular recipes below:
- Delicious Red Snapper Amandine
- Poached Halibut with Tarragon Cream Sauce
- Perfectly Seared Scallops
- Grilled Swordfish with Summer Gremolata
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Brenda G. says
Awesome recipe... tried it last night... it took a little long... but it was absolutely worth it and turned out delicious!! Thank you!!
Angela and Mark says
So happy to hear that you liked this recipe! Thank you for your comment!
Maggie says
Are we sure it’s 4 cups of water and 1 cup broth to one cup orzo?
Angela and Mark says
Hello Maggie! Yes, this is correct. Unlike other preparations, we don't let the orzo fully absorb the liquid here. The orzo is cooked like you would cook other pasta shapes with a large amount of liquid that you drain before serving. Once the orzo is cooked to your liking, the liquid is drained, then you mix in the spinach. Enjoy!