Blackened Shad

If you live on the East Coast, near a river, look out for the American shad in Spring, when it leaves the waters of the North Atlantic and makes its way up river to spawn.

If you are lucky enough to get hold of the roe, fill a smoke box with pre-soaked applewood chips and put it on the Weber. Smoke the roe on a very low grill for 25 minutes. A whole shad is delicious smoked this way too – again, the grill must be set to very low, and allow a couple of hours, refilling the smoke box several times during the process.

Serves 24

Juice of 3 lemons
6 lb American shad, gutted, spine and major bones removed
3 red onions, thinly sliced
1 1b mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1½ tsp salt
Black pepper
2 cups extra virgin olive oil

Make a marinade for the shad from the oil, vinegar, lemon and seasoning, in an ovenproof dish. Dip the fish in, skin side down, then turn. Sprinkle mushroom and onion on top, and make sure they’re covered with the marinade too. Allow to stand for a couple of hours. With the broiler as hot as you can get it, place shad skin side up under grill for up to 10 minutes until the skin begins to blacken and the fish is just cooked and moist. (If you are using an outdoor grill, again with it as hot as possible, place the fish skin side down on an oiled griddle and watch carefully as it cooks.) 

While the fish is cooking pour marinade into a wide-based pan or wok, and stir fryl over a high heat until the vegetables are soft and the liquid has reduce by half; season to taste and spoon over shad.

Served with boiled baby Yukon Gold potatoes and steamed asparagus.

Note: try to obtain the largest American shad you can, as deboning smaller fish is very hard work.