Hooked on Striped Bass

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As a child I grew up fishing out east on Long Island. My fondest memories are fishing with "Pops";  catching our own fish, crabs or “feet” for clams, all of which was in our “backyard.”  As some of you know we recently went fishing for Striped Bass and we were not "stripped" of our bait that morning. We went to a specific spot in the Shinnecock Inlet and I caught myself a 40 inch Striper. We were only out for 1 hour and within that time we caught 2 Striped Bass. I could not wait to create a meal for my family from this beautiful fish which graced our hooks.

Striped Bass with pepperoncini and sweet piquanté peppers

Striped Bass is flaky and meaty and its texture lies between cod and swordfish. Stripers are versatile and can hold up to frying, baking, poaching whatever suits your fancy. If you like spicey, sweet with a touch of tang you will love this dish.

ingredients​

  • ​Striped Bass 
    2-3lbs large fish filets
  • 2 tbsp capers​
  • ​1 cup Pepperoncini and it's juice
  • 1 cup sweet piquanté peppers (peppadew) and it's juice
  • 1.5 cups white wine
  • 1/2 cup of olive oil​ for frying
  • 1 cup of flour for dredging
  • 2 eggs​ mixed for coating the fish
  • Salt/pepper​
  • 1 lemon juiced​
  • 6 cloves of garlic​

directions​

  1. ​Put 1/2 cup olive oil in a deep frying pan and have on medium heat.
  2. Dip the Fish in the eggs, then dredge in the flour which is seasoned with salt and pepper.
  3. Fry the fish on both sides until it is golden brown. Have garlic cloves in pot as you are frying. Be sure not to burn them. Do not cook the fish all the way through and place the fish on a plate for later.
  4. ​Deglaze the pan briefly with the 8 cloves of garlic, white wine, lemon, pepperoncini and piquanté juice and capers for approximately 1 minute.
  5. ​Place the fish filets back in the pan and place the Pepperoncini and piquanté peppers on top of fish. Add Salt to taste if needed.
  6. ​Cover and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

Serves 4 people family style.​

note: the white wine used was a Sauvignon Blanc from Palmers Vineyards and the eggs were from Ty Llwyd Farm. Striped Bass was from the Shinnecock Inlet and caught by me with "Pops".

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