Stuffed pelengas in the oven: recipe

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Pelengas is not a delicacy type of fish, but this does not prevent many gourmets from treating it with great respect. A small number of bones, snow-white fragrant meat, dense but not hard skin, and at the same time a low price are the main features of this fish.

What is not prepared from pelengas! It is fried and baked, s alted and smoked, marinated in Korean style and minced meat is made from its meat for meatballs, lasagna, fish dumplings. The relatively low cost, even in a crisis, makes this fish an excellent option for the everyday menu. But its excellent taste can compete even on the festive table. Thinking over the menu for a solemn feast, do not disregard this fish, the pelengas may well become the main decoration of the table.

In the oven, it is usually cooked whole. This allows you to keep the meat juicy, and such a delicacy looks just like a king.

Preparing fish

It is not easy to clean the pelengas from the scales. The scales are removed easily, but scatter throughout the kitchen. If possible, leave this matter to the seller, howevertell him not to touch the insides.

If you have to deal with uncleaned fish with your own hands, arm yourself with a special cleaner and proceed. It's better to start with the tail. Be especially careful around the fins - hard small scales are hiding under them.

Use pliers (or special tongs if you have them) to remove the gills. Baked pelengas in the oven looks more spectacular with the head, if possible, keep it in place.

Belly or back?

Why shouldn't you hurry with the insides? Many professionals advise cutting large fish with delicate fat not from the abdomen, but from the back. This will keep the tender, fatty meat on your belly. Otherwise, all juices and fat will be rendered through the incision. Yes, and it is much easier to get rid of the spine.

Make an incision with a very sharp knife along the entire back, pass it on both sides of the ridge. With scissors, cut through the spine near the tail and near the head, it will easily give in, and the ribs will follow it. Carefully remove the insides, being careful not to damage the bile sac. Rinse the carcass under running water, remove the films from the inner surface of the abdominal cavity. By the way, do not forget that this fish has an edible and tasty liver. It can be cooked, like the pelengas itself - in the oven, along with vegetables.

Additional components

You can use any of your favorite vegetables for this recipe: turnips, green peas, asparagus and asparagusbeans, eggplant, broccoli, many varieties of onions. Suitable for recipe and mushrooms.

Pelengas in the oven, the recipe of which is given in this article, is stuffed with young zucchini, carrots, onions and herbs.

Cut vegetables into cubes, fry in oil separately. Then mix and simmer briefly in half a glass of white wine. Add a pinch each of the pepper, coriander and s alt mixture.

Stuffing

Grate the fish inside and out with s alt. Lemon juice is another ingredient that can optionally be used in this recipe. Thanks to him, you will get even more tender and fragrant pelengas in the oven.

The photo shows how to distribute the filling. And to keep the fish from falling apart, tie it with kitchen string, stab it with toothpicks, or simply sew up the cut on the back.

In foil, sleeve or nothing?

There are a huge number of options for baking. You can lay the fish on a pillow of onion rings, greens and roots, then you get a crispy golden crust. If you like tender meat, send the pelengas to the baking sleeve, this will retain all the juices and flavors. But when cooking, the lost moisture will remain in the sleeve, the fish will be stewed.

Pelengas in the oven in foil cooks faster, due to the fact that the foil keeps the temperature. In short, do as you please.

Oven baking

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Set the baking sheet to the middle position and bake until done. Pelengas in the oven bakes whole longer than fish in pieces, it will be completely cooked in about 30-40 minutes.

How to check readiness? The main feature is the persistent aroma of the finished fish, which by the end of cooking will spread throughout the apartment. To be sure, you can pierce the pulp with a long bamboo skewer - it should go in easily.

Serving and garnishing

Is it worth serving a side dish for such a dish as baked pelengas? In the oven, the fish was already cooked with vegetables, and the dish can be called self-sufficient. However, compared to the fish part of vegetables, there are very few. Therefore, it would be quite logical to serve mashed potatoes or boiled crumbly rice as a side dish.

This dish can also be a great addition to pasta. Choose shapes that hold the sauce well: shells, cones, spirals.

Fish dishes are traditionally served with white wine with a small amount of sugar. But the pelengas baked in the oven with vegetables turns out to be quite expressive and high-calorie, so it can be served as a snack and with strong alcohol.

Tomato or vegetable juice, cranberry juice, mineral water go well with this dish.

It is best to serve a whole pelengas on a large flat dish - this will make a splash. Be sure to first remove the retaining threads or skewers. Fish can be laid out on lettuce or iceberg leaves, garnished with olives, thin lemon slices, viburnum berries,greenery. When setting the table, do not forget about fish cutlery and forks.