Pike in Onion and Carrot Marinade

Pike is a lean fish. There is almost no fat in it, which is why fried pike already seems dry on the first day and is properly dry on the second. A marinade of onion, carrot and tomato solves exactly that problem: the fish sits in a moist, faintly sour sauce and draws it in while it stands in the fridge.

So the dish is not served straight away. Three to four hours of soaking is not a whim of the recipe but the method itself; most cooks make pike in marinade the evening before and eat it the next day, and this is one of those rare dishes that is better on day two.

The vinegar is not there for flavour either: the acid softens the fibres of lean flesh and at the same time makes the appetiser keep — three or four days in the fridge without trouble. Serve it cold, as a dish in its own right, not as a hot course.

⚠️ In Ukraine pike is under a spawning ban from 15 February to 31 March, nationwide, with exact dates and boundaries set by each regional fisheries order. That concerns catching it; fish bought in a shop is not affected.

A marinade is not the only rescue for lean white fish: Polish-Style Pikeperch with Egg Sauce solves the same problem by poaching and a butter-and-egg sauce. Another cold appetiser from the same shelf is Whole Spiced Salt Herring.

Caloric content: 135kcal

Notes

• Do not skip the half hour under salt. Lean pike flesh takes salt more slowly than fatty fish, and if the pieces go straight into the pan the salt stays on the surface while the inside is bland.
• Fry the fish in one pan and the vegetables in another. The flour left from the fish burns and gives the marinade a bitter edge. With only one pan, wash it between batches.
• Grate the carrot coarsely and slice the onion into half-rings. A fine grater turns the marinade into a uniform purée: it should stay a sauce with distinct vegetables, not a spread.
• The vinegar goes in last, with the bay leaf. Added earlier, the acid boils off during the stewing and there is no point to it at all.
• The fine bones of pike do not go anywhere. A marinade will not soften them — this is not a five-hour canning recipe. The Y-shaped bones along the back have to be picked out, and the dish is best kept away from children.

Which pike works best

The ideal fish weighs between half a kilo and one and a half. Smaller gives too many bones per portion; a big pike from three kilos up has coarser fibre and a more pronounced muddy note that the marinade will only partly cover. Fresh beats frozen: after freezing, lean flesh loses moisture as well, and then you are rescuing it twice.

Recipe and photos — kolizhanka.net.ua