Stuffed Zander

How to prepare the zander

1. For stuffing, take a fresh fish whose length matches the diagonal of the oven tray, otherwise you will have to cut off the head and cook it separately.

   As a rule, when making stuffed fish, the skin is removed from the fish like a stocking, the fillet is turned into forcemeat, and the bones and fins are boiled for fish soup or broth. The minced flesh is mixed with spices and fried vegetables and used to stuff the skin. Stuffed zander can be made on the same principle, although it is much easier to simply take the skin off by cutting the belly, then wrap the filling in it and shape something like a whole fish.

2. Gut the zander, remove the gills and scale it. Do not cut off the head, and leave the fins in place too.

   

3. Cut the belly and take the skin off the fish: carefully use a knife and scissors to remove the backbone and scrape all the meat from the skin and bones. What should be left is the cleaned skin with the tail and head.

   

How to make the stuffing

1. Soak the bread: put 2 slices of stale white bread in a small bowl and pour 200 ml of milk over them. The bread should soak up the milk thoroughly and become very soft.

   

2. Fry the onion: peel 2-3 onions and chop them finely. Heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the onion until soft and golden. Watch that the onion does not get over-fried, or the stuffed zander will taste of onion. Well-fried onion has a pleasant sweetish taste, thanks to the caramelization of the sugars it contains.

   

3. Prepare the fillet and bread: try to pick all the large bones out of the fillet. When the fish meat is ground in a meat grinder, the small bones collect in front of the plate and do not get into the mince. Squeeze out the white bread soaked in milk and put it on a plate. The fried onion should cool down.

   

4. Make the mince: grind the zander fillet in a regular meat grinder, twice if you like. Grind the squeezed-out bread in the grinder too. Mix the bread with the zander meat, add the cooled fried onion, and season with salt and pepper. Add a pinch of hot pepper, a crushed allspice berry and 1-2 pinches of aromatic herbs or a “Mediterranean” herb mix.

   

   Mix the fish mince thoroughly until completely smooth. It should be dense and stick to your hands a little. If the mixture is not very dense, you can add 1 tbsp of breadcrumbs (8 g) or grated stale loaf. In that case let the stuffing stand for a while so the dry crumbs get wet.

   

How to stuff the fish

1. Lay the zander skin with the tail and head on the table. With wet hands, put the prepared mince on the inner side of the skin – less near the tail, more toward the head. Shape the mince into something like a fish, keep a little aside and use it to stuff the zander head.

   

   Wrap the skin around the mince. You can press the mince with your hands, leveling it to the size of the skin so no voids remain. The filling may show along the belly cut, which is normal, since it is practically impossible to “guess” the right amount of mince. Put the fish on a cutting board.

   

2. Tie the fish with thread, so that the stuffed zander stays whole during cooking, keeps its shape and the skin does not crack. Any cotton thread without synthetic fibers will do. Tie it crosswise at intervals of 5-6 cm. Brush the zander with the remaining 1 tbsp of vegetable oil.

   

How to bake

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. So that the stuffed zander does not stick to the tray, I put thin slices of lemon under it, which anyone who likes can later use as an addition to the dish. But the lemon is optional. Move the fish onto the baking tray. To keep the tail and fins from burning, you can wrap them in foil.

2. Bake the fish for up to 30 minutes. You may need to increase the time, because if the fish is thick enough it may not bake through. Go by the color of the skin – it should become dark golden, without any signs of burning.

Serving

1. Take the finished fish out of the oven. Carefully, so as not to damage the skin, cut off all the thread with scissors. It is better to cut from the belly side and pull out the pieces of thread one by one. Line an oval or oblong dish of suitable size with lettuce leaves and move the stuffed zander onto it. It is easy and convenient to do with two spatulas.

   

2. Decorate the dish with black and green olives, lemon pieces and sprigs of herbs. If you like, you can add hot pepper and pomegranate seeds. Stuffed zander goes well with lemon-based sauces – give it a try. And be sure to pour yourself a glass of white wine.