Fans of zander fishing appreciate this fish for its excellent taste. Note that you can cook pike perch in various ways, but you can serve a really delicious dish on the festive table only if you bake pike perch in the oven. The recipe for cooking pike perch in the oven is quick and easy to prepare. Oven baked pike perch can be served even to those guests who are on a diet.
So that the fish does not turn out dry after cooking, it is watered with juice from a squeezed lemon, smeared with sour cream. Many chefs stuff pike perch with slices of tomatoes, carrots and onions. Pike perch tastes delicious if it is rubbed with dried parsley or dill a few hours before cooking, black pepper or special mixtures for fish are used.
How to cook pike perch in the oven? There are actually a lot of recipes. Today we will consider only some of them, which would not be correct to call the simplest, but which are best suited to any holiday table.
Preparation and selection of fish
So, we note right away that the choice should be made on the size of the carcass, taking into account the fact that the smaller it is, the better. The best choice is pike perch weighing 0.8-1.2 kg (peeled). If a large celebration is planned, which will be attended by up to 15 people, then it is recommended to use several fish weighing 3-4 kg.
Important! An indicator of the freshness of the carcass is the absence of a pronounced fishy smell.
After the fish for baking is selected, it remains to prepare it. To do this, first of all, the fish is cleaned of scales, the insides are removed. The last step involves the removal of the gills.
Now, under cold running water, the fish is washed and dried (we wrap the carcass for a few minutes in a towel).
Drained fish according to the chosen recipe is rubbed with spices, salt and pepper. This completes the preparation for baking, you can proceed to the direct process. Consider several options for cooking pike perch in the oven.
Bake pike perch with onions and mustard in the oven
Cooking in this way allows you to give the dish an amazing taste with a spicy aroma. Lemon juice, mustard, vegetables are used. The presence of these products will set off the smell of fish. It is recommended to salt the carcass at least an hour before cooking.
List of ingredients:
Pike perch - 1-2 kg;
- one bulb;
- two tomatoes;
- mustard two spoons;
- parsley;
- three tablespoons of lemon juice;
- spices and salt;
- slices of lemon.
Cooking steps:
1. On the carcass, we make cuts across the body, after that we coat with salt and leave for an hour so that the fish is well saturated and excess liquid comes out of it.
2. Cut the onion into rings, the lemon into small slices, and the tomato into strips.
3. Mix the mustard with lemon juice and rub the fish on all sides.
4. On a baking sheet, lay out the foil in which the fish will be wrapped, but before that, a slice of tomato and a lemon slice are inserted into the transverse incision.
5. Onions and remaining tomatoes, as well as chopped parsley, are sprinkled on top of the fish. Only now carefully wrap the fish with foil.
6. Bake for about half an hour at a temperature of 200 degrees. 10 minutes before the end of the cooking process, slightly open the foil, so that a crispy golden hue will appear on the fish. 
Bake pike perch in foil
If you bake pike perch in the oven as a whole, then the delicate aroma and juiciness of the fish is almost completely preserved. Note that pike perch is not bony and very fleshy, so eating it, especially if the fish is well cooked, is a pleasure. Our recipe suggests baking pike perch on a pad of carrots and onion rings. When cooked, you will get a lot of juice, which is perfect as a sauce for a dish.
Ingredients:
Carcass of pike perch;
- onions - 3 heads;
- pepper and salt (to taste);
- carrots - 2-3 pieces;
- butter 60 gr;
- peppercorns (10 pcs.);
- 6-8 sprigs of thyme.
Cooking steps:
1. Thoroughly dry the chopped pike perch, then cut off the fins and rub the carcass with pepper and salt.
2. Peel and cut carrots (cubes or straws) and onions (rings).
3. The baking sheet is covered with foil, which we lightly rub with sunflower oil, after which we put the prepared onions and carrots.
4. We put pike perch on the “pillow”.
5. To give the dish more flavor, add peppercorns and put sprigs of thyme around the pike perch.
6. Pike perch can be rubbed with butter a little, this will give more juiciness and tenderness to the taste. Now we wrap the fish well with foil and send it to the oven at a temperature of 180 degrees for 50 minutes.
The process of preparing pike perch in this way allows you to get a delicious dish in just half an hour. You can serve with stewed vegetables, boiled potatoes, buckwheat or rice porridge. It is recommended to use homemade sour cream, but if it is not available, then mayonnaise or heavy cream will do.
List of ingredients:
Zander;
- 2 heads of onions;
- sour cream;
- fresh herbs, salt, pepper;
- vegetable oil.
Cooking steps:
1. We clean the fish, remove the insides and gills. We make transverse cuts on the tail and back.
2. We clean the onions, and cut them into half rings, after which we fry in a pan until a golden hue is obtained.
3. We cover the form with foil, spread the fried onions. You can stuff the cuts made in the fish with onions.
4. We put the form in the oven, at a temperature of 180 degrees, and leave for about 15 minutes.
5. After the specified time has elapsed, we take out the form from the oven and pour sour cream over the baked pike perch, after which we return it back for another 5 minutes.
For baking, it is recommended to use culinary sleeves or special foil envelopes. In them, the dish turns out to be as juicy and fragrant as possible. About 10 minutes before the end of cooking, the sleeve or foil should be slightly opened, as a result you will get a pleasant golden and crispy crust.
It is important to know that for the preparation of pike perch, especially if the weight of the carcass does not exceed 3 kg, the temperature in the oven should not exceed 220 degrees. It is recommended to put the fish when the temperature has barely reached 180 degrees. The longer the fish languishes, the tastier and juicier the dish will turn out.
If you plan to bake pike perch in a sauce, then for this you should use only options for a liquid consistency, so the fish will soak faster and better.
Important! Oven-baked pike perch is low in calories, so these dishes can be safely served to guests who are on a diet.
We have considered the smallest part of the recipes and methods for preparing pike perch, in fact, there are still a lot of different recipes. But if you choose one of our pike perch roasting options, then your holiday table will be remembered by all your guests for many years to come.
