fried shad

Choose a female shad weighing at least 3 kg (6 lbs 10 oz). (The small ones are no good.) Clean the inside being careful not to crush the roe. Take off the heat and the tail and cut the fish in half lengthways.

Then cut the two halves in slices 5 or 6 cm (2’ to 2 1/4”) wide. Wash several times in salt water, rinse carefully and leave to drain.

Marinade these slices in the chermoula (see preparation) for several hours. Then roll the slices (and also the roe) in hard wheat flour. Keep the remainder of the chermoula for making fritters.

Fry the fish in boiling oil in a frying pan over a medium heat, taking care to brown them all over.

Eat either hot or cold. This fish can be kept 1 or 2 days in its marinade before being cooked. Whiting, sea bream, dorados, mullet, pageots, etc, can also be fried after marinading in the same way.