Cumberland River (near Clarksville) 4-5-13

[TroutFiend]

We not only have great fishermen on this site... But also great chefs!
Thanks for this recipe, I'll try not to screw it up.

[jad2t]

Yea I've become as passionate about cooking lately as I am about fishing! Hope you all enjoy it. Me and the future wifey ate them like that last time I got into the whites real good, we loved it!

[nomad60]

Originally Posted by jad2t

Make sure you cut out the red meat on the back of the fillet. Other than that, they're a white, flaky meat so you have many options to cook it. My favorite way to make it so far is something I made up.

I ballpark my own recipes so I can't give you measurements but I can estimate how much I used. Last time I did it this way was with 6 whites. 2 tablespoons of butter, 4 garlic cloves minced, 2 lemons, a lot of fresh basil (I think I used a few cups worth), and about 1/3 cup of olive oil.

Lay the fillets in a baking dish and sprinkle with pepper. In a small pan, melt the butter, olive oil, and minced garlic and leave heating until it starts to simmer. Mince up the basil but not finely because you'll use a food processor to take care of the rest. Put the basil, and garlic/butter/oil mixture into the food processor, blend until its a paste. Spread it evenly on the fillets then cut the lemon into thin slices, thoroughly covering all the fillets. Bake in the oven and enjoy. Gives you a nice lemon pesto flavor.

Ok, suddenly I'm hungry LOL. If I ever luck into them again like that, I'll keep some and give this recipe a try. Thanks!

[spottedbass]

I say cutting the red meat out is over rated and not nesessary. I never cut the red meat and they taste GREAT!!! Of course I like fish that taste like fish... tuna, mackeral, trout, sheepshead (with the red meat still there) and striper (with the red meat still there). To me crappie taste like whatever you batter it in or whatever you season it with. Might as well just eat the batter or the seasoning because there is no taste of fish.

To each his own....