Crispy Shiners with Lemon Butter Olive Oil

On my recent trip to the Farmer’s Market (which was this past Saturday), I saw a long line at the fish & seafood booth. Naturally, I was curious…so I walked right up to the front of the line just to see what the offerings were. It seemed like most of the good stuff was gone, but I did catch a glimpse of small silvery fish which I learned were called Shiners. As I took a look at the big pile of whole little silver fish, I started getting ideas of how I’d prepare them.

A while ago, I took note of a crispy anchovy dish special that was served at my job. The little anchovies were dredged in rice flour and fried until crisp and served with an aioli. I can’t remember exactly what kind of aioli it was but I do remember how delicious it was to eat this fish whole…head, tail, eyes and all. I’m a big fan of salty, crispy anything…so if I see an opportunity to mimick this dish staring right at me (literally), I’m going to take it.

Crispy Shiners with Lemon Butter Olive Oil:

With a small pairing knife, slit the underside of a shiner, remove the innards, and rinse underneath cold water. Pat dry the shiners. Heat a skillet on medium high heat with a generous amount of olive oil. In the meantime, add about 1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt to all purpose flour (or any other flour you want like rice flour, chickpea flour, etc.) and dredge the fish in the flour. Place the shiners in the skillet of hot oil and fry until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside on a paper-lined plate to remove excess oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and enjoy with lemon butter olive oil and lemon wedges.

Lemon Butter Olive Oil:

Heat 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a skillet on medium/low heat. Add the juice of a lemon and a little olive oil to taste. When butter has been melted, set aside to cool off. Transfer to a food processor and grind lemon butter olive mixture with 1 small clove of garlic, adding more olive oil and salt if necessary.