Features of the choice of fish and preparation of pollock dishes. TOP 7 best recipes for lunch and dinner with different ingredients and sauces. Video recipes.
Pollock is a saltwater fish from the genus Codfish rich in proteins and iodine. It has snow-white layered meat with a mild, neutral taste, which makes it perfectly combined in dishes with any seasonings, spices and products that can enrich it with various flavors. Pollock fish can be boiled in water or steamed, stewed, fried, baked, smoked and dried. It makes a delicious fish soup, fish soup or borscht. As a side dish, you can serve mashed potatoes, pasta, any kind of porridge and vegetable salads. Fish fillets make very aromatic cutlets, pies, chops and cold snacks. Now let's look at how to deliciously cook pollock for lunch and dinner, and give some of the simplest and most popular recipes using this delicate and healthy fish.
Features of cooking pollock
Pollock dishes are familiar to many from childhood. This is one of the most popular fish in the entire post-Soviet space. It lives in the cold waters of the Pacific and Arctic Ocean, as well as in the northern part of the Atlantic. The fish has an elongated silvery body with dark spots, and its main feature is the presence of three fins on the back and antennae. It comes to the shelves of our stores already decapitated and without entrails, fresh or frozen. They gut it because the head weighs relatively a lot and is not used in cooking, and the liver and pollock roe are sold as an independent product, the price of which is higher than the cost of a carcass.
The Koreans first started catching pollock and using it for food more than 3 hundred years ago. It is from the Korean language that the word "pollock" is translated as "holiday". The name is explained by the fact that dishes from this fish were prepared only on holidays. They began to catch it in the Soviet Union only at the beginning of the 40s, but they did not use it for food, but sold it to Koreans or ground it into flour for fodder. Since the 70s. in the USSR, pollock fillets began to be produced, and not only fish began to appear on sale, but also its caviar, canned pollock liver and surimi.
In the USSR, the benefits of pollock were underestimated; it is still called “fish for the poor”. Despite the fact that it is really relatively inexpensive, it contains 3 times more iodine and fluoride than pink salmon, there is no harmful cholesterol, and the concentration of fats does not exceed 1%, most of them are found not in meat, but in the liver of fish … Alaska pollock has a very low calorie content and absolutely no carbohydrates, but there is a lot of phosphorus, iron, chlorine, chromium, calcium, magnesium and other minerals.
Due to the high content of useful components, dishes from this fish are in the dietary menu of hospitals and sanatoriums, they are recommended in the fight against excess weight, for those who have diabetes, diseases of the thyroid gland and circulatory system. Fish is quickly digested and does not burden the liver, so dishes made from it are recognized as an ideal dinner.
There are other benefits of pollock:
- Fillets are easily separated from the bones;
- The fish is not bony;
- No fat;
- Prepares quickly;
- It goes well with any side dishes;
- When cutting, it gives little waste;
- Inexpensive;
- Has a balanced chemical composition;
- It can be used in baby, medical, diet food.
To cook healthy and tasty pollock, you need to purchase a quality product that does not have an unpleasant odor, bloody, red spots, creases and damage. Frozen fish should not have a lot of frost or ice. Quality products have a good fishy aroma, light skin tone and a slight sheen that is noticeable despite the presence of a frost layer. Since large specimens have tighter skin, and the flesh is slightly harsh and fibrous, it is better to choose medium and small carcasses for preparing pollock for lunch and dinner.
It is important to remember that fish cannot be re-frozen. It must be cooked immediately, since even minimal defrosting will lead to the appearance of small cracks in the subcutaneous layers of the meat. Such damage during cooking will cause the fillets to break down into fibers and stick to the bottom of the dish. The purchased frozen carcass can be immediately placed in the freezer and stored at -18 ° C for a maximum of 9 months. The fish must be wrapped in a separate plastic bag, since it easily picks up the smells of neighboring products and also easily impregnates them with its aroma.
Before cooking pollock, each carcass must first be defrosted and peeled. From it you need to scrape off the scales with a knife, starting from the tail to the head, cut off the fins and rinse thoroughly, both outside and inside. If you intend to fry or bake fish, it is better to defrost it in a gentle way, placing it from the freezer in the refrigerator for several hours. For first courses or juicy fish fillet filling, you can quickly defrost it in running water.
Peeled and washed fish is dried with paper towels and cut into portions, or its fillet is separated from the bones for grinding into minced meat or using it whole. Due to the high absorption rate, pollock meat is pickled very quickly. It works well with black pepper, fresh parsley, ginger, lavrushka and nutmeg, but vinegar and other acidic ingredients don't work well with it.
Prepared fish can be boiled, fried, stewed, baked, prepared for salads, cutlets, pates, pies, soups, aspic and other snacks, first and second courses. As a side dish for fish dishes, you can serve potatoes, pasta, various cereals and vegetable salads.
TOP 7 pollock recipes for lunch and dinner
Pollock is a fish that can be cooked deliciously in a pan, in a slow cooker, steamed, deep-fried and stewed in all kinds of sauces. Minced fish makes a delicious filling for pies, casseroles, dumplings and pancakes; you can make delicate diet cutlets and healthy vegetable salads from it. If you want to supplement your family's diet with dishes rich in vitamins and minerals, pay attention to the most interesting recipes for delicious pollock that you can prepare for lunch and dinner.
Stewed pollock in tomato sauce
Thanks to the tomato sauce, the dish has a spicy sour taste, and the combination of pollock with vegetables makes it incredibly aromatic and healthy. It can be served hot or cold. According to this recipe, fish is cooked in a pan with the addition of carrots, onions and tomato paste. After trying, people of the older generation can remember their youth, because it was often served in Soviet canteens.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 87 kcal.
- Servings - 8
- Cooking time - 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- Pollock - 2 pcs.
- Tomato paste - 1 tablespoon
- Water - 150-200 ml
- Tomato juice - 200 ml
- Onions - 1 pc.
- Carrots - 1 pc.
- Salt, spices - to taste
- Flour - for enveloping
Step by step cooking of stewed pollock in tomato sauce:
- Cut the peeled and washed fish into pieces, salt, sprinkle with spices and leave to marinate for 5 minutes.
- Dip the pickled pieces on both sides in flour and lightly fry in a skillet in hot sunflower oil.
- Peel the onion, peel the carrots. Finely chop the onion, chop the carrots into a coarse grater. Fry vegetables in a pan until soft.
- Divide the fried vegetables into 2 parts.
- Line the bottom of the pan with half the fried vegetables. Spread the fried fish evenly on top of the vegetable layer. Cover it on top with the remaining vegetable stock.
- Dilute tomato paste with water, mix with tomato juice. Pour pollock with carrots and onions with the resulting sauce.
- Simmer fish with vegetables over low heat for 20-30 minutes.
Stewed pollock can be served with mashed potatoes, boiled rice or buckwheat porridge as a side dish.
Pollock in batter
This is a very simple dish that uses fish fillets. It can be consumed hot and cold. The most time is spent on defrosting fillets, so if you plan to cook pollock in batter for lunch or dinner, it is best to remove it from the freezer in the morning. To make the dish juicy and tasty, you need to know how to fry pollock correctly so as not to dry it out. First of all, it should be cut into large pieces, then the meat will not give up its juice so quickly. An additional means to preserve juiciness is batter. In this recipe, it is prepared on the basis of milk and mayonnaise, but water, yogurt or even beer may well be used. If you want to make a thick breading, then in addition to batter, take crackers or grated cheese.
Ingredients:
- Pollock fillet - 0.5 kg
- Chicken eggs - 5 pcs.
- Milk - 1/2 tbsp.
- Mayonnaise - 1 tablespoon
- Soy sauce -1 tsp
- Salt, pepper, spices - to taste
Step by step cooking pollock in batter:
- Defrost the fish until relatively firm and cut into portions.
- Beat the eggs into a separate deep container, add all the ingredients to them and beat thoroughly with a blender until smooth.
- Heat oil in a frying pan, dip pieces of fish in batter and fry on all sides until tender.
- Put the fried pollock in batter on paper towels to remove excess fat.
- When serving, keep in mind that this dish goes well with mashed potatoes and light vegetable salad seasoned with vegetable oil.
Pollock in sour cream and garlic sauce
Pollock with sour cream and garlic is cooked in a pan. The fish according to this recipe turns out to be very tender with a light piquant aftertaste. Best served warm.
Ingredients:
- Pollock - 400 g
- Olive mayonnaise - 50 g
- Sour cream (15%) - 100 g
- Garlic - 5 g
- Dill - 1 bunch
- Olive oil - 1 tablespoon
- Salt, pepper - to taste
- Seasoning for fish - to taste
- Lemon juice to taste
Step-by-step preparation of pollock in sour cream-garlic sauce:
- Defrost the fish, peel off scales and skins, separate the fillet from the bones. Cut into portions. Sprinkle each piece with salt and pepper.
- Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry fillets in it on both sides until half cooked.
- In a separate container, combine sour cream, mayonnaise, salt, garlic pressed through a press, and finely chopped dill. Pour the prepared sauce over the fish in a frying pan.
- Simmer pollock in sour cream under a closed lid over low heat for about 10 minutes.
Sprinkle the cooked fish with lemon juice and serve hot with a light vegetable salad.
Pollock soup
It is impossible to imagine lunch without the first course. If you are looking after your health, you should definitely include fish soups in your diet. And if you think that ukha is too expensive, it means that you just haven't made pollock soup yet. It turns out to be delicious, rich and inexpensive, but no less healthy than the first courses from elite fish varieties.
Ingredients:
- Pollock - 1 pc.
- Water - 1.5 l
- Potatoes - 4 pcs.
- Bulb onions - 2 pcs.
- Carrots - 0.5 pcs.
- Sunflower oil - 30 ml
- Garlic - 1 clove
- Bay leaf - 1 pc.
- Dill - 2-3 branches
- Green onion - 2-3 feathers
- Salt to taste
- Black peppercorns - 8 pcs.
- Bay leaf - 2 pcs.
Step-by-step preparation of pollock soup:
- Defrost the fish, remove the husk and remaining entrails. Rinse the carcass and cut into pieces.
- Place fish, lavrushka, peppercorns and onion without husks in a saucepan.
- Pour pollock with onions and spices with water and cook. When the water starts to boil, remove the foam. Salt the broth and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.
- Extract the fish, onion, lavrushka and peas from the finished broth. Strain the broth and pour back.
- Peel the potatoes, wash, cut them into small pieces and throw them into the broth. When it boils, cook for 10 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.
- Peel the onion and chop finely, cut the peeled carrots into small cubes or bars. Lightly fry the vegetables.
- Remove bones from boiled fish. When the potatoes are ready, toss the fish pulp and fry into the soup.
- When the soup boils, cook it over low heat for another 5 minutes.
Add finely chopped herbs and garlic to the fish soup before serving.
Foil baked pollock
The fillet of this fish is quite dry, so all the moisture will evaporate from the pollock baked in the oven without foil, and it will turn out to be too hard and unusable. According to this recipe, the fish comes out juicy, tender and appetizing. From the specified amount, the ingredient makes 3 servings of a tasty and healthy dish.
Ingredients:
- Pollock - 1 kg
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Vegetable oil - to taste
- Spices for fish - to taste
- Lemon juice to taste
- Greens to taste
- Salt to taste
Step-by-step preparation of pollock baked in foil:
- Defrost fish, peel off scales, wash, rub with pepper and salt. Top the carcass with lemon juice and leave to marinate for a while.
- Cover the baking sheet with foil, grease it from the inside with sunflower oil, place the pollock in the foil.
- Wash the greens, chop finely and sprinkle on top of the fish. Join the edges of the foil over the fish.
- Bake the pollock in the oven for 30 minutes at 190 ° C, then slightly open the foil and cook the fish for another 5 minutes to form a golden brown crust.
Garnish the baked pollock with lemon wedges, fresh finely chopped herbs and serve on a serving plate in neatly unfolded foil. You can serve mashed potatoes, rice or fresh vegetables as a side dish. The dish will be delicious both hot and cold.
Pollock cutlets
This pollock recipe is universal, because cutlets made according to it can not only be fried, but also steamed. You can use either a whole fish carcass or its fillets.
Ingredients:
- Pollock - 1 kg
- White bread - 250 g
- Milk - 0.5 tbsp.
- Bulb onions - 2 pcs.
- Salt, pepper, spices - to taste
- Breadcrumbs - for breading
Step-by-step preparation of pollock cutlets:
- Pour the bread over with milk and leave until completely soaked.
- Peel the onion and cut into large pieces.
- Defrost the fish, peel off the skin and entrails, remove all bones.
- Pass the fillet, onion and bread soaked in milk through a meat grinder.
- Add spices and salt to the minced meat. Put it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Form the minced meat into cutlets, roll each of them in breadcrumbs and place them evenly on a baking sheet.
- Bake pollock cutlets in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 220 ° C.
The dish turns out to be low-fat, but juicy. It can be served as a second with mashed potatoes, pasta or rice porridge. If you want to make a more dietary option, cook pollock cutlets in a slow cooker, but then do not roll them in breadcrumbs, but use only ready-made minced meat.
Pollock salad
For this dish, you will need boiled pollock. The salad is prepared quickly with minimal financial costs, despite this, it can be served not only for lunch or dinner, but also for the festive table, you will be convinced of this, having familiarized yourself with the preparation of a salad with pollock step by step.
Ingredients:
- Pollock - 500 g
- Milk - 2 tbsp.
- Carrots - 2 pcs.
- Onions - 2 pcs.
- Mayonnaise - 3 tablespoons
- Vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon
- Dill - to taste
- Salt to taste
Step-by-step preparation of pollock salad:
- Defrost the fish at room temperature, peel off scales, entrails, cut off the fins and cut into large pieces.
- Place it in a saucepan, cover with milk, lightly salt and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes after boiling milk.
- Leave the fish in milk until it cools completely.
- Wash the carrots, place in a saucepan, cover with water and boil until tender. Drain the liquid, after cooling from the carrots, remove the peel and chop it on a coarse grater.
- Peel the onion, cut into half rings, fry in vegetable oil until transparent.
- Peel the cooled fish from the skin and bones, cut the finished fillet into small pieces.
- In a deep salad bowl, start to collect the flaky salad. First, spread the fish pulp evenly over the bottom of the container and brush it with mayonnaise. Next, place the carrots, mayonnaise, fried onions and mayonnaise again.
Top the pollock salad can be decorated with a layer of finely chopped dill. Before serving, it should be soaked a little, then the taste of the dish will be delicate and balanced.
