In his excellent book, Fishing Lessons Paul Quinnett wrote, "The first lesson in life is to enjoy...And so is the second and third lesson." Since the mid-60s, I've found that time spent in the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes provided great enjoyment. In 1996, my family purchased a cabin on Ten Mile Lake in Cass County, Minnesota. Since that purchase, the "enjoyment" gauge has registered much higher readings.
In part, that enjoyment increased because friends and family could join the excursions to lake country. Drs. Ron Baker and Jim McGovern are two long-time friends who made an annual trip for fishing, enjoyment, decompressing, and comradery.
For several years a traditional fish meal was frying rock bass fillets that had been dipped in an egg bath and flour batter. While this recipe provided a satisfactory meal, the consensus was that variation in the fried fish diet might be enjoyable, healthy, and even creative. Dr. McGovern, our primary medical doctor, thought that our cholesterol levels might even benefit. Actually, we had some debate on that point about cholesterol levels. One thought was that with sufficient high quality alcoholic beverages, the cholesterol would be purged. We compromised and agreed that high quality beverages wouldn't hurt and could have added benefits, so they were incorporated liberally, much to our personal enjoyment.
Experiments in alternative fish cooking experiments began. In his California home, Dr. Baker began testing various cooking methods, spice loadings, presentations, and pairings. He explained that, through the winter, he would slave away in his kitchen and over repeated trials, fine tune his recipes using locally available fish such as tilapia.
At the cabin the following summer we would fillet our catch of rock bass and prep for the feast according to his guidance.
The included recipe is one such tasty delight. Yes, prep is a bit more than just dipping fillets in an egg and flour batter, but not much more effort. Feel free to tweak the recipe to suit your tastes. Since our rock bass fillets were generally smaller than 5 oz., we would use several fillets to create an appropriate serving size. Fish such as largemouth bass, bluegill or crappie could be substituted if Rockies aren't available from your local waters. Most importantly, enjoy.
Bonappetit.
Ingredients
Four 5-ounce fillets (Largemouth bass will work)
Scant 1/2 cup Classico or Kraft Grated Three-Cheese Blend with Parmesan, Roman & Asiago Cheeses.
1/4 cup Panko (Gluten-free, optional)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
Olive oil to drizzle Parchment paper
Instructions
- Preheat broiler to 425o, and position a rack about 6-inches from the heat.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl (or a paper bag), mix the three-cheese blend, Panko, sea salt, freshly ground pepper and thyme leaves.
- Rinse the fish under cold running water. Shake off the excess water and then dip both sides of the fish (or shake in a paper bag) in the cheese and Panko blend.
- Arrange the fish on the prepared baking sheet. Spoon any remaining cheese blend on top of the fish and press it onto the fish with your fingertips.
- Drizzle (or use sprayer) olive oil evenly over each fillet.
- Broil for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the fish is crispy and cooked through.
