Smelt in the oven with a crust

We offer a recipe for a budget-friendly yet very tasty fish dish – baked smelt in the oven with a crust. Smelt is very small and dries out quickly in the oven, so it is cooked with breadcrumbs. The most accessible are dry breadcrumbs. We will prepare a three-layer breading: flour, egg, and wheat breadcrumbs. The baked breadcrumb crust will be so thick that the fish can be served without bread. Marinating in lemon juice enhances the fish flavor, and the spiciness of white pepper will be concentrated in the top layer of the breading. A peculiar contrast will appear between the mild fish fillet and the spiced breadcrumb crust.

Preparation time: 50 minutes.

Yield: 2 servings.

Caloric content: 209 kcal per 100 grams of the dish.

Ingredients

• smelt – 300 g;
• lemon – 1 slice;
• egg – 1 pcs;
• wheat breadcrumbs – 3/4 cup;
• flour – 3 tbsp;
• salt – ½ tsp;
• ground white pepper – 1/3 tsp.

Preparation

1. Prepare the ingredients for baking smelt in the oven with a crust. Vegetable oil is only necessary if the fish is baked in a mold or on a baking sheet without using parchment paper. The surface is generously greased with vegetable oil so that the breadcrumb coating does not stick to the metal or ceramic. When using parchment, oil is excluded from the list of ingredients.

2. The thawed smelt is cleaned, and the black film from the belly is removed. Then each fish is rinsed under running cold water.

3. The fish is laid out in a single row on a plate. A thick slice of lemon is cut off and the fish is drizzled with citrus juice. The smelt should marinate in the juice for at least 10 minutes.

4. The egg is broken, and a pinch of salt is added. The egg is thoroughly beaten with a fork to slightly foam the batter.

5. The flour is poured onto a flat plate and mixed with a pinch of salt. The smelt is coated in flour.

6. The smelt is transferred to the plate with the egg batter and the fish is flipped.

7. The smelt is moved to a plate with ground breadcrumbs. To add spiciness to the dish, the breadcrumbs are mixed with ground white pepper. The smelt is breaded carefully so that the egg batter is completely covered by the breadcrumb crumbs.

8. The smelt is placed on culinary parchment. The baking sheet with the smelt is placed in the hot oven.

9. The smelt in breadcrumbs is baked in the oven for 20 minutes at a temperature of 190 degrees. In the last two minutes, convection is turned on. Baked smelt in the oven with a crust is ready.

10. For baked smelt, the serving temperature of the dish is not so important; the breadcrumb crust will always be thick and crispy, while the fish inside will be tender.