Often when I'm fishing, people catch bluefish or skate and throw them back. I always run over and ask to keep one or two. Bluefish are quick and easy to fabricate and a delicious dinner to prepare when I get back home from fishing all day.
I prefer simply dredging in seasoned flour and frying pieces in olive oil & butter mixed together. Perfect with cold beer or white wine!
Cooking Bluefish
I've always loved catching bluefish. A lot of people tell me they don't like the taste of bluefish. I think they don't clean the fish properly or simply don't understand how to cook bluefish.
I've actually begun to freeze bluefish, and defrost and cook later in the year. I was pleasantly surprised to learn how good it is after freezing!
All sizes of bluefish are aggressive, give a nice fight and taste great. I remember catching small 'snapper blues' in Maine on crocodile lures-you can deep fry the whole fish- absolutely delicious.
I love to fish on the surf for fluke, when the bluefish come in to the surf, the baitfish cover the beach as they try to swim away from the bluefish. It's wild to fish in this fracas.
Cooking Bluefish
Prep Time: 30 min
Cooking Time: 20 min
Yield: 4 portions
Ingredients
2 qts. Olive Oil or Butter
1 lb Bluefish; scaled, cleaned and thoroughly rinsed
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
t.t. Black pepper
1 Cup. AP flour
If breading and frying:
2 ea Eggs, cracked-whisked
2 Cups Breadcrumbs, seasoned if you like
2 ea Lemon, quartered
Spicy Bluefish with Peppers 'Warm Salad'
3 Tbsp Olive oil
4 Tbsp Red Bell Peppers
4 Tbsp Bell Peppers
4 Tbsp Onions
2 Tbsp Scallions, sliced thinly
2 Tbsp Cider Vinegar
2 Tbsp Capers
How to Prepare Bluefish
Step 1
Clean the fish fillets of all blood line, discard; pat dry with paper towels. You can leave whole to pan fry or deep fry, cut in to fillets or cut into 2 inch squares.
Season the with salt and pepper.
Step 2 Fried Breaded Fish
Place the seasoned fish squares in to a bowl and pour the flour over it, toss to evenly coat.
Pour the eggs over the floured fish and evenly coat, using a rubber spatula (or your fingers).
Finally pour the breadcrumbs over the fish and toss, covering each piece with breadcrumbs. You should lightly squeeze each finger so it's covered tightly with the breadcrumbs-add more breadcrumbs if needed. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.
Step 3 Sweating the Peppers and Onions
Heat the oil in a sauté pan, add the peppeprs, onions and garlic, cook for about 5 minutes until lightly browning and softened. Add the vinegar and herbs; season to taste and toss with the fried bluefish pieces. Serve immediately with pluches of cilantro to garnish.
Meunière style
This is a picture of bluefish fillets simply seasoned and dredged in flour, then sautéed in butter.
Pan fried Bluefish
This is a picture of cleaned, whole bluefish seasoned and dredged in flour, then pan frie in oil and butter.
