Published on 10/25/2006

Ocean perch is a tasty, healthful and economical fish for when you're in the mood for good seafood but don't want to spend a lot of money. It is relatively low priced, usually available year round and is easy to prepare and cook. You can find ocean perch sold whole as well as filleted. It's a great fish for frying, but most of the time I prefer to bake it. Here's one particulary tasty recipe as well as some basic baking instructions.

How to Bake Ocean Perch

You can find ocean perch sold whole as well as filleted. Look for firm flesh and a bright, shiny skin. If you're buying whole fish, the ocean perch's gills should be a healthy pinkish red in color.

The flesh of ocean perch is delicate but moist. It's a great fish for frying, but most of the time I prefer to bake it.

If you're starting with whole fish, you must clean it thoroughly, taking care to rub away all of the black lining that you will find in the belly cavity. You can cook either fillets or the whole fish with the outer skin still on.

Here's an excellent recipe for baking ocean perch.

Ingredients:

1 to 2 pounds of ocean perch, depending on number of people to be served
1 onion, cut into slices
1 lemon, cut into slices
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper
1 cup of sour cream; low-fat sour cream is fine
1/8 teaspoon salt 1
/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried mustard

Preheat your oven to 400 °F. Spread the onion and lemon slices over the bottom of a baking dish and sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Now, lay the fish (either cleaned whole fish or fillets) on top. Cover the baking dish and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Combine the sour cream, the 1/8 teaspoon salt, the paprika and the mustard and spread the mix over the top of the fish. Top-broil until the ocean perch is browned.

Want an even simpler, but still tasty, recipe for baking ocean perch. Try this:

Preheat oven to 420 °F. Grease a baking dish and place the fish in it. Brush with melted butter, margarine (or other butter substitute), or cooking oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake 20 minutes or until done.

Other ideas for cooking ocean perch:

Bake with an onion and herb stuffing.
Steam the fish.
Grill on the barbecue.
Dust fillets in flour and spices, then pan fry.

Ocean perch is versatile and can satisfy a seafood craving any time of the year, on almost any budget. You owe it to yourself to try some soon.

Sarah Sandori is the food and entertaining columnist for the Solid Gold Info Writers Consortium. Have you ever wanted to be able to exactly duplicate a favorite dish from a favorite restaurant? Check out Sarah's article where she reveals her secret source for the most mouth-watering restaurant recipes in America: http://www.solid-gold.info/most-wanted-recipes.html.