Pan-Fried Pacific Ocean Perch (w/chimichurri)

Pacific Ocean Perch

Pan-fried Pacific Ocean Perch with chimichurri is a very quick and flavorful dinner recipe.

While shopping for a flaky white fish (like cod or halibut), I fortunately found this Pacific rockfish, a type of perch, on sale at Aldis.

The Pacific ocean perch (Sebastes alutus), also known as the Pacific rockfish, Rose fish, Red bream or Red perch has a wide distribution in the North Pacific from southern California around the Pacific rim to northern Honshū, Japan, including the Bering Sea. The species appears to be most abundant in northern British Columbia, the Gulf of Alaska, and the Aleutian Islands. (wikipedia)

Rockfish are a lean fish and have a mild, sweet flavor with a nutty accent. The flesh has a medium-firm texture with medium sized flakes.

Growing up fishing

Growing up in the Midwest on a 300 acre lake, we did a lot of fresh water fishing. We mostly caught smaller bluegill, bass and sun perch. And we ate anything of substantial size and threw back the rest. Raised on a lake, we practically lived on the water. We earned money mowing lawns, selling shoes, magazine subscriptions and shoveling driveways in the winter time to earn money any way we could.

By the time I was 12, I bought a small 12′ john boat and 7.5 hp Gamefisher engine (from Sears) that would whisk us across the lake to our favorite camping spots. We spent the weekends camping in the woods and catching fish with mom’s leftover challah bread. The fish went crazy over it. We used to catch the fish, scale it and fry it in a cast iron pan over our campfire. We ate fish morning, noon and night. Needless to say, we became proficient at pan frying fish, which was the inspiration for this recipe.

Pan-Fried: Less is best

When cooking, as with many things, sometimes less is best. And that’s usually the case with good quality ingredients, light this fish. Because of its natural and unique flavor, I only used salt and pepper to cook it with. However, I do finish it with a boost of chimichurri sauce.

Simply seasoning it with salt and pepper, I gently placed the fillets in a hot pan coated with olive oil.

Pan-fried Pacific Ocean Perch only takes a few minutes on each side to lightly brown the fillets.

When the side is browned, flip with a spatula to other side and fry until light brown.

Remove from pan and arrange on platter. Generously drizzle chimichurri sauce over the tops of the fillets. Serve warm.

See the Kosher Cowboy’s other fish recipes here.

Want to try another Kosher Cowboy condiment or sauce instead? Check them out here.