Czech Dill Sauce Rice with Trout

About This Recipe

Koprová omáčka, Czech dill sauce, is a beloved comfort-food staple usually served over hard-boiled eggs or beef, made from a simple roux thickened with milk or cream and loaded with fresh or dried dill. Its tang comes from a splash of vinegar and a pinch of sugar, a balance typical of many Czech cream sauces that lean sweet-and-sour rather than purely rich. Here the sauce is paired with pan-seared trout, a fish commonly caught in Czech rivers and ponds, over a bed of plain buttered rice. Searing the trout skin-side down first and leaving it mostly undisturbed gives a crisp skin that holds up under the creamy sauce rather than disintegrating into it. The dill sauce itself should be smooth and pourable, with a gentle vinegar tang balanced by a touch of sugar — taste as you go, since the ratio varies depending on how sharp your vinegar and how salty your stock are. This makes a homestyle dinner that leans into classic Czech comfort-food flavors rather than typical seafood-forward preparations.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 4trout fillets
• 2 tbspbutter(plus extra for searing)
• 2 tbspall-purpose flour
• 2 cupsvegetable or fish stock
• 0.5 cupheavy cream
• 0.33 cupfresh dill(chopped)
• 1.5 tbspwhite vinegar
• 1 tspsugar
• 1.5 tspfine sea salt
• 0.5 tspblack pepper
• 2 cupscooked rice

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the roux

   Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until pale golden and no longer smells raw.

2. 2

   Build the sauce

   Gradually whisk in stock, ensuring no lumps form, then bring to a simmer and cook 8-10 minutes until thickened enough to coat a spoon.

3. 3

   Finish the sauce

   Stir in cream, dill, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer 3 minutes more, then taste and adjust the vinegar-to-sugar balance to your liking.

   Add vinegar and sugar gradually and taste between additions — the right balance is a gentle tang, not sharp acidity.

4. 4

   Sear the trout

   Season trout fillets with salt and pepper. Melt a little extra butter in a skillet over medium-high heat and sear skin-side down 4 minutes until crisp, then flip and cook 2 minutes more until just cooked through.

5. 5

   Plate the rice and trout

   Spoon rice onto plates and top each with a trout fillet.

6. 6

   Sauce and serve

   Ladle the warm dill sauce generously over the trout and rice, and serve immediately.

Variations

• •

  Serve the dill sauce over hard-boiled eggs and boiled potatoes instead of trout for the classic Czech vegetarian version.

• •

  Swap trout for poached chicken breast for a milder, family-friendly variation.

• •

  Add a spoonful of Dijon mustard to the sauce for extra depth, a common home addition.

Storage

Refrigerate sauce and fish separately up to 2 days. Reheat the sauce gently over low heat, whisking often, and warm the fish briefly in a low oven to avoid overcooking.

Frequently Asked Questions