Planked Stuffed Shad Recipes

BAKED STUFFED SHAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wipe shad fillets with damp paper towel. Season both fillets with salt and pepper and wine. Lay one fillet on a large piece of foil and spoon stuffing onto fillet. Top with second shad fillet, dot with butter and wrap up in foil. Place whole package onto a baking sheet and bake about 30 minutes until fish flakes easily. Serve immediately.

PLANKED STUFFED SHAD

Steps:

• For the plank, use a ceramic baking tile, bread board or pine plank 12 inches square. Soak for 1 hour in water; dry and rub with oil. Put in oven and heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Rinse the fish. Mix together the salt, pepper and nutmeg, sprinkle three-quarters of the mixture on the inside and outside of the fish and set the rest aside.
• Split leeks in half lengthwise and then widthwise; rinse completely. Put in a shallow pot, cover with cold water and cook over medium heat until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain leeks. Pour 1 tablespoon of the butter over leeks, add the juice of a quarter of the lemon and sprinkle with remaining salt mixture.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Put the leeks inside the shad, sprinkle with bread crumbs and chopped parsley, close the fish, baste it with the remaining butter and juice of rest of the lemon. Place fish on plank and bake 40 minutes. Serve with boiled potatoes and lemon wedges.

SHAD STUFFED WITH DATES

Steps:

• Mix together the chopped almonds, rice, sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch each of pepper and ginger, and knead with a little butter to hold everything together.
• Pit the dates and stuff them with the almond-rice mixture.
• Rub the fish all over with oil, salt, pepper, and a little ground ginger. Open up the 2 top fillets and arrange the stuffed dates down the center, then replace the top fillets. Place the fish on a large, well-oiled sheet of foil and sprinkle with the finely chopped onion. Wrap the fish up neatly and seal the edges of the foil firmly. (The foil allows you to omit sewing up the fish.) Lay the parcel on a large baking pan.
• Bake in a preheated 350°F oven, about 15 minutes per pound, or until the flesh begins to flake when you cut into the thickest part with a pointed knife. Then unwrap the foil and place the fish under the broiler to become crisply golden. Serve dusted with cinnamon if you like.

INDOOR SHAD BAKE

Steps:

• You can use a plank of hardwood at least an inch thick, or a broiling pan large enough to accommodate both fillets. If you use a plank, put a pan or foil tray larger than the plank on the oven rack below it to catch the drippings.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. If you use a plank, spread it with vegetable oil and heat it in the oven for 5 minutes.
• Season the fillets with salt and pepper and arrange them, skin side down, in the broiling pan or on the hot plank. Lay the slices of bacon diagonally across the fish.
• Bake 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 350 degrees and bake 10 minutes or so more, until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Discard the bacon and serve immediately with lemon wedges.

PLANKED SHAD

Steps:

• Clean and dress fish.
• Broil for ten minutes; place on a hot, buttered plank, skin side down.
• Season well, pour melted butter over the top and bake at 400F for 15 minutes.
• Protect plank from scorching by coating with damp salt, excluding the parts not covered by the fish. (The salt dries and is easily removed before mashed potato is added.).
• Remove plank from oven and pipe mashed potatoes decoratively around fish.
• Return to oven until potatos are golden and fish well done.
• Garnish with parsley and lemon slices.

OUTDOOR PLANKED SHAD BAKE

Steps:

• Prepare a small bonfire with scraps of any softwood like pine. Ready a plank of hardwood, preferably oak, that is at least an inch thick and about 2 feet long by 2 1/2 feet wide.
• Season the fillets with salt and pepper. Arrange them, skin side down, on the plank. Lay two strips of bacon or salt pork across each fillet. Using large-headed nails, nail through the bacon into the fillets so that they are fastened securely to the plank.
• Prop the plank upright about 6 inches from the fire, with the fillets vertical. Bake 15 minutes; turn the plank so the end previously on the ground is now on top. Bake 15 minutes or so more, until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove the nails and bacon, and serve fish immediately with lemon wedges.