Way back when my father used to take me on the Brooklyn out of Sheepshead bay and we used to come home with a burlap sack filled with Bluefish, my mom was hard pressed to take these half spoiled, poorly cleaned, crushed fish and turn it into something palatable. My mom is Sicilian and a great cook (aren't all moms? yeah but my mom was raised by an aunt who already had 11 kids, so my mom always got stuck with kitchen chores, it made her a GREAT cook-OK, back to the recipe)... She applied her Italian skills to the needs at hand and produced a pretty good meal. Years later, after barbecuing some striped bass and not being to pleased with it, I thought back on my moms meal and applied it to Striped Bass (with her help). I've since served it to guests and friends and often, no matter what else is on the table, it is the Striped Bass that everyone wants more of & wants some to take home! Except there is never any left over!
With all the stripped bass being caught now, allow me to share my best recipe...
Start with a fresh skinless bass fillet. -a side note here, when skinning your bass, don't be so crazy and try to get all the meat off the skin. Angle the knife to leave about 1/8" of meat behind. This area contains a lot of oil & dark meat and has a strong taste. Also, after you're done, remove all the dark meat from your filets (do this with all fish for a fresher taste).
Now that you have your fish, lets get started.
Take 1 large or 2 medium potatoes (cleaned and skinned) and slice them thin on one of those mandolin things (or a knife if you don't have one of these contraptions).
Do the same with 1 large or 2 medium onions.
In some hot oil fry the potatoes until half cooked (just starting to show some golden color on the edges)
As you remove your potatoes, add a dash of salt while they are hot.
Fry up the onion until soft but not showing any color. Again, about half cooked.
Open up a can of whole, pealed Italian tomatoes and drain the juice in a casserole pan large enough to hold the fish filets (you can rupture the tomatoes with a fork to get more juice).
Place your bass on the tomato juice and season with some oregano, pepper, garlic powder (use the powder and not the salt) a light dash of salt, some old bay and thyme. I like going a bit heavy on the old bay.
Add some more juice from the can (the tomatoes will produce more juice as the sit or attack them again with your fork)
Now chop up the remaining tomatoes with a knife & add a layer of potatoes and onion & tomatoes over the fish. Continue layering your potatoes, onion and tomatoes until it is all finished. Season your layers lightly with pepper, thyme & a dash of oregano and garlic powder. I put a bit of parsley on top and place it in a 375 oven for about 45 minutes. When finished, remove it from the oven and let it sit for 2 to 5 minutes.
The thing here is the fish will not dry out because of all the tomato sauce. The Tomatoes get a hint of flavor from the fish. The potatoes and onions taste so good people will be fighting over them. Trust me, this is by far my favorite fish meal. Bar none. It tastes so damn good, I get a slight pain in my jaw (which I'm told is my salivary glands working overtime) Try it and I'm sure you will agree. If you want, you can boil a bit of pasta and use the extra tomato from the fish as a sauce. It ROCKS!
Good Fishing - Good Eating - Captain John
(cr) June 2002