Fish Fry (Without the Fry)

It seems that my family’s favorite was to celebrate these days is with seafood!

We love a good fish fry!

The only thing with that is that if you do it inside, your whole house or apartment will smell like fish.

To do it outside you have to have a decent portable stove, or it won’t get hot enough to do the fish justice.

My mom pretty much has a propane jet engine outdoor burner. It’s awesome.

I do not.

And I did not want to deal with a fishy smelling apartment. So what to do?

Bake it so that it looks like it’s fried!

Yesterday was 9/11, and it seemed appropriate to celebrate the freedom and safety that we enjoy because of the efforts of others.

We also had cod in the freezer that my husband was dying to eat.

It was pretty much the perfect Sunday to try it!

And I’m so glad I did.

Here’s how to make Oven Fish Fry!

2 filets of cod (or whatever type of fish you would like, mahi mahi is also tasty!)

Eggbeaters (or regular eggs beaten)

Club crackers

Salt

Pepper

Parsley, oregano, basil (I used an Italian herb mix)

Garlic powder

Onion powder

And whatever other spiced you feel like! (I tossed a little Greek seasoning in there for a kick)

I cut our fish into 4 portions. Actually, my husband cut the fish into 4 portions because I didn’t feel like doing it. Haha.

(You can also do several bite size pieces; just check them frequently to make sure they don’t overcook.)

Preheat your oven to 375 F.

To prepare the crumb mixture, mix the club crackers and all the spices, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and herbs in a blender or chopper (we used a magic bullet). Pulse them until they are all ground up and mixed into each other. You can go for a super fine powder if you want; I prefer a little texture left. Dump this into a bowl that the fish pieces would fit in.

Use the eggs in a separate bowl. Dip the fish into the egg mixture, thoroughly coating it. Then drop it into the cracker mix. Turn it on all sides to coat it evenly all over.

Place the coated fish pieces onto a lightly oiled baking sheet.

Now you have two choices. You can be patient and wait about 10 minutes for them to dry out.

Or do like I did and stick them in the oven for about 3-5 minutes and then pull them back out.

They crisp up so much better when they start off a little dry!

Now spray the fish with a good coat of olive oil cooking spray. Butter spray would probably work too. Then stick them back in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Yum!

I highly recommend eating them with butter-lime dipping sauce.

In fact. I insist that you eat them with butter-lime dipping sauce.

It’s super simple to make.

Start with a base of butter-flavored butter (a stick of melted butter mixed with half a packet of butter buds). Squeeze in three healthy squirts of lime juice (about 3 to 4 teaspoons). Stir.

Then soak in the flavor of the fish dipped in it.

Proceed to enjoy heaven on a plate.

- Mrs. A

p.s. the original cracker crumb mixture was inspired by my Mom, who does the same thing! However, being dump cooks, we can rarely reproduce the same thing twice. I’m getting better at it since I’m trying to write things down for this blog. Thanks Mom for an awesome start!