Oven-Baked Ocean Perch with Coriander and Lemon
There's hardly an angler who hasn't caught a river perch at least once in their life. The striped bandit is everywhere and will bite on just about any tackle.
Ocean perch, or rather the many different species of ocean perch, don't live in our waters. But you can always buy it in the shops — frozen. Ocean perch is also called sebastes, which sounds a lot like the familiar name “sea bass” — another sea fish, several varieties of which are sold here. Ocean perch are usually easy to recognise by their red-orange colour.
Most often you'll find small ocean perch in the shops, weighing 300–400 g, although in the oceans they catch fish of up to 20–25 kg.
To my taste, the simplest and easiest way to cook ocean perch is to fry it. Our usual go-to ocean perch dish for breakfast is breaded fried perch. Sometimes, when there's time to cook, we bake it — this oven-baked ocean perch recipe is a little more involved and takes some preparation.
Ocean perch flesh has very few bones and plenty of protein. Even in ancient times, physicians recommended perch meat to the sick.
Baking fish, like any other food, relies on dry heat from outside, provided by a stove or an oven. Cooking ocean perch usually doesn't call for complicated or rare ingredients — it's all much simpler. Salt and black pepper are enough, plus a little special something that gives the flavour a particular kick. Then the fish is brushed with oil and baked.
As the main aromatic spice for baking ocean perch, we usually use coriander seeds. In cooking, coriander is used either as young leaves, known as cilantro, or as seeds — ground peppercorn-like grains. Coriander is considered one of the best seasonings for pork, but it goes perfectly with fish too.
Baked perch is an uncomplicated dish, simple even. The fish takes about an hour and a half, including preparation.
Ingredients
2 servings
- Ocean perch 2
- Lemon 1
- Olive oil 1 tbsp
- Salt (sea salt), black pepper, coriander seeds to taste
Step-by-step recipe
- Thaw the fish beforehand. It's enough to move the perch from the freezer to the fridge the evening before or well in advance: the fish will thaw properly and won't leak. Scale the ocean perch with a knife. Unlike river perch, ocean perch are very easy to scale. You can leave the fins on, but remember that perch fins are very spiky: if you prick yourself, the spot will hurt for a long time. Ocean perch are usually sold headless and gutted; you just need to slit the belly open and clean out the remains of the dark membrane lining the cavity.
- Score the perch crosswise on both sides down to the backbone — 3–4 cuts are enough. The ocean perch are ready.
- Next, prepare the spices. For two ocean perch you need a scant teaspoon each of coriander seeds and salt. We traditionally salt fish with sea salt, though it doesn't really matter. Add 3–4 black or mixed peppercorns. Crush the spices in a mortar, not too finely.
- Rub the prepared ocean perch with the spice mixture and sprinkle with a little lemon juice. Put the fish on a plate and cover with cling film. Leave the fish for half an hour.
- Line the bottom of a baking dish with a few thin slices of lemon. With the lemon underneath, the fish won't stick to the dish. Besides, the lemon juice flavours the liquid that forms during baking, and it can be used as a sauce for the fish.
- Lay the perch on the lemon slices, first removing (if you like) any large bits of coriander from the surface of the fish. Brush the fish with olive oil — 1 tbsp is enough.
- Put the dish with the red perch into a preheated oven and bake for 30–40 minutes. That's quite enough time for the dish to be ready. Still, it's worth checking and adjusting the baking time if needed. My own preference: better for the perch to be slightly overdone than underdone.
- Lay lemon slices on a plate. Or, alternatively, fry a few thin lemon slices in a hot dry pan. Place the baked perch on top of the lemon and pour over the sauce that formed during baking.
| Yield: | 2 servings |
| Calories: | 138 |
| Prep: | 45 mins |
| Cook: | 45 mins |
| Ready in: | 1 h 30 mins |
| Category: | Main Dishes |
| Cuisine: | European |
| Rating: |
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4.7
(2)
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