crappie on the small side

[slickwater1]

in one of our area lakes we catch lots of 9 in. fish. they want us to keep everyone we catch but was wondering about a healthy way to cook these. me and my wife both on diets, as much as i like fried fish just can't do it right now. any suggestions?

[Quackrstackr]

Brush them with olive oil (optional), sprinkle with garlic powder and a very light amount of McCormick Season All.

Place them in a grill basket and throw them on the grill.

I have cut way back on the frying myself and have been trying all sorts of seasonings on my fish for the last few months. That one has so far been the best.

[GCD]

Put them in the dishwasher!

Lizzie's Dishwasher Fish - 280218 - Recipezaar

[Bronson]

I agree with quackrstackr, very good this way and much better for you. Just have to be careful with the bones. Nice change of pace is to fillet some of your bigger crappie and grill the same way. The grill basket is the key or you'll end up with crappie pieces. Do not cook too long.

[Quackrstackr]

I cooked a basket full of fillets just last night with the recipe above. They are fantastic.

Fillets take less than 10 minutes on my gas grill.

[NIMROD]

Fillet or dress whole and then place in a buttered glass pan. Add more butter , garlic powder, salt, pepper, lemon or lime juice. Then cover and microwave about 10 or 12 minutes. Some microvewave ovens take more or less time.

[Charles]

Make a sea food flavored soup, manhattan clam chowder for instance, and lay a filet on top of the soup as it simmers. When the filet is just about done, break it apart and mix it into the soup to make a fish stew. Finish cooking the fish and dive in!

[Charles]

Make a sea food flavored soup, manhattan clam chowder for instance, and lay a filet on top of the soup as it simmers. When the filet is just about done, break it apart and mix it into the soup to make a fish stew. Finish cooking the fish and dive in!

This works better with smaller fish/filets as they'll steam faster on top of the broth/soup.

[blairarnold]

One way to cook big crappie is to filet the sides off but leave the skin on unscaled. You can grill them skin side down and the skin and scales protect the meat. Brush with oil or melted butter and put on your favorite spices and brush several times as the fish is cooking. Take them off as soon as they are done and still moist. The meat comes right off the skin and is wonderful. The scales are pretty much burned off, but they did their job. I tried this first with redfish, but it works well with big crappie, too. (Another advantage is it keeps the meat together as well as you don't turn it.) This is really an easy way to cook some really good fish.

This might work with small whole crappie as well. You would probably have to turn them and would have to take the skin off to eat them and would have to season them after you took the skin off, but I think it would work.