So today I (with the family) dug about 20 gallons of potatoes, picked tomatoes, did four loads of laundry, defrosted and organized the deep freeze, ticked Mike off by plugging up the garbage disposal, made three casseroles for the freezer and served the family Bluegill Parmesan from our fishing excursion yesterday. It was, for certain, a Labor Day.
My dad is an avid fisherman. Always has been. But, until this summer, I've never, EVER been fishing. Two weeks ago, we went with a church group to a nearby lake. Our hostess LOVES to fish and, when I told her I never had, she set about to rectify that situation. I caught three fish, all about the size of my thumb. In fact, I caught one of them twice. How do I know this, you may ask? Because my buddy/ teacher saw the worm from the last time still in his mouth! She took a video of me screaming and holding that tiny Fish Stick up and posted it on Facebook. If I were savvy enough to figure it out, I'd put it on this post. Stay tuned.
Yesterday, we invited Dad over for popcorn and dozing in front of the television, a Sunday afternoon tradition - both in my current home and my home-of-origin. I told him about my first attempt at my newest hobby and before I knew it he and my family of five were all standing on the shore of a friend's stocked pond with lines in the water. We threw back the bass and kept the bluegill. I was excited because I had a wonderful recipe which I hadn't been able to use for several years. We had 18 fish total, which Dad filleted and shared with us. I turned half of it into Bluegill Parmesan for tonight's dinner and flash froze the rest and threw them into a freezer bag to keep for later.
Here's the recipe:
Bluegill Parmesan
1/4 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. dry bread crumbs
1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese
2 T minced fresh parsley
1 t. salt
1/2 t. paprika
1/4 t. dried oregano
1/4 t. dried basil
1/4 t. pepper
1 pound bluegill fillets (perch or crappie may be substituted)
Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and seasonings in shallow bowl. Dip fillets in melted butter then coat with crumb mixture. Place in a baking dish and bake, uncovered, at 350 for 20 minutes, when fish flakes easily with a fork.
how funny to see a recipe for bluegills! I caught them as a child and they were so small we rarely ate them.
ReplyDeleteYou sure were industrious yesterday.
How do you flash freeze at home? I thought that was a big commercial thing.
I never thought of it being a commercial thing. Dad gave the fillets to us in a bowl of water. I didn't want to put the wet fish pieces into a bag to freeze into one solid fishy lump, so I spread them out on cookie sheets without touching and put the cookie sheets directly into the deep freeze for a couple of hours. When they were frozen solidly and seperately, I moved them into a freezer bag. I'll be able to pull the frozen pieces out of the bag individually without them sticking together. Does that make sense?
ReplyDeleteDid you release the bass and keep the bluegill because they were too small or didn't you want them? Could you make the parmesan with any type of fish or does it work best with Bluegill? Do you have other recipes for other kinds of fish? A neighbor down the road keeps inviting us to fish their pond with has quite a few, and I see some down in our creek, but I haven't cooked fish (besides just frying them) much before.
ReplyDeleteWe released the bass because the man who owned the pond really enjoys bass fishing, so we left them for him. The recipe suggests that perch and crappie are good substitutes in this recipe.
ReplyDeleteohhhhh - I didn't know that was flash freezing. I do that with stuff all the time, for the same reasons you listed.
ReplyDelete