Once I was standing in front of a fish counter and my gaze fell on a fish with the interesting name “Argentina”. And since my husband’s favorite dish is fish stewed with vegetables, a recipe with carrots and onions in gravy, I decided to buy this fish and cook it that way. And I was right - the Argentina turned out juicy, tasty, soaked in vegetable juices - simply delicious! I recommend this simple but very tasty recipe.
Products:
- Argentina fish – 3 pcs;
- 3 sweet peppers;
- 1 onion;
- 1 carrot;
- tomato paste.
How to cook Argentina:
As usual, the fish needs to be washed thoroughly. All excess, if any, remove, let the water drain, cut into pieces, that’s it - the fish is ready, let’s start with the vegetables.
Everything was washed, peeled, and finely chopped.
Heat some oil in a frying pan (make sure the frying pan is clean, use odorless oil). As soon as the oil gets hot, send the chopped vegetables to it, let them fry well. Then add tomato, spices, taste to make sure the gravy is slightly spicy.
In another frying pan, fry the fish, first dipping it in flour and adding a little salt.
When all our Argentina is fried, put it in a frying pan or casserole, pour in the resulting vegetable sauce and simmer for 10, or maybe 15 minutes (depending on how intensely you fried it).
Let the fish sit in the sauce until it soaks, it will taste better. After 15 minutes you can take it out and help yourself. By this time, you have probably already prepared mashed potatoes and made a vegetable salad - then you can start eating, bon appetit!
Cooked by Olga
Argentina is a fish that has a very moderate ability to reproduce offspring, despite the fact that from March to May it lays from three to seven and a half thousand large-sized eggs, which develop well at a depth of three hundred to four hundred meters.
The Argentine fish lives off the European and American coasts of the Atlantic, in the Pacific and it can be found off the coast of Northern Norway. This fish grows very slowly. For example, it reaches its average length of sixty centimeters only by the age of twenty-five. Her sexual maturity occurs only in the tenth to twelfth year of life.
Argentina is a deep-diving fish, so the bottom part of the ocean, which has an average depth of one hundred and fifty to six hundred meters or more, provides a full life for the school. The depths of the school's habitat can be judged by the remains of very deep-sea plankton species found in the intestines of the fish. It feeds on numerous invertebrates that are familiar to us as products obtained from the sea - these are squids and crustaceans.
When it comes to catches, Argentina's fish are not champions. This may be due to low fertility, very slow growth and late maturation, as well as living at very great depths. Its name has nothing to do with the country of the same name, it is translated as “silver”, so our fishermen have long called it silverfish, and in some Russian Pomeranian regions it is called golden smelt. Its average size in catches off the American coast reaches from twenty-five to forty centimeters with a weight of two hundred to six hundred grams. From the ocean depths close to the European continent, professional fishermen catch it half a meter long and weighing up to one kilogram.
Argentina fish is very healthy, containing only two percent fat and up to twenty percent protein. The consistency of the meat is very tender and the taste is pleasant. Fishing schooners catch it purely for food purposes: cooking, smoking, canning. It comes to the market more often in fresh frozen form as semi-finished products or whole. It is delicious both fried and baked, so it is impossible not to mention at least one recipe with it.
Baked silverfish with garlic tomato sauce
This dish does not require a large list of ingredients, and it will not take much time to prepare, but the enjoyment from its wonderful taste will be enormous.
To prepare you will need:
- Argentina fish - 500 grams.
- Garlic - 2 cloves.
- Hot pepper - a small piece.
- Tomato paste - 70 grams.
- Granulated sugar - 1 teaspoon.
- Vegetable oil.
- Spices and herbs.
- Salt.
Preparing to cook
Clean the fish, remove any remaining entrails and wash in cold water.
Make cross-shaped cuts on both sides, sprinkle with salt and leave for twenty minutes to ripen.
Peel and coarsely chop two cloves of garlic.
Heat the oven to 180 0 C.
Cooking baked fish in Argentina
Take a frying pan, pour a little vegetable oil into it, heat and fry the garlic, at the end add sugar, a piece of hot pepper and a couple of tablespoons of hot water. Bring to a boil while stirring.
Grease the pan, place the fish in it, pour over the sauce, sprinkle with herbs and bake for half an hour.
The dish is equally suitable for lunch and evening dinner, and the sauce will add juiciness and piquancy to the fish.
"Baked Fish (Argentina)"
Quick recipes
Place chopped carrots (12 kg), 4 onions, and parsley on the bottom of the frying pan. Salt and pepper. Place pieces of fish on vegetables, pour oil, add 1 tbsp. water, cover the pan tightly and keep in the oven until done.
Argentina stew
For 500 g of fish:
- 1 tbsp. spoon of vegetable oil,
- 1 onion,
- 1/2 tbsp. spoons of mustard,
- 1-2 tomatoes, pepper and salt to taste.
Cut the cut fish into portions, sprinkle with pepper, roll in flour and lightly fry. Cut the onion into thin rings and fry. Place onions, sliced tomatoes, fish, mustard in a greased bowl (dilute the prepared mustard with 2 tablespoons of cold water) and cover with a lid and simmer over low heat.
Argentine fish fried with onions
Ingredients:
400 g fish fillet, 2-3 tbsp. spoons of fresh lemon juice, salt to taste, 2 tbsp. spoons of flour, 2 onions, refined vegetable oil for frying.
Cooking method:
Cut the washed and dried fish fillets into pieces, sprinkle with lemon juice and let stand for 5 minutes. Peel the onion, chop and fry a little in vegetable oil. Bread the fish in flour mixed with salt and fry with onions on both sides until browned. Cover with a lid and heat over low heat for 2 minutes. Garnish with lemon slices, fresh cucumbers and boiled potatoes.
Soup from Argentina
350 g fish, 1-1.5 liters of water, 5 potatoes, 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1/2 parsley root, 3 peas each of black and allspice, 1-2 bay leaves, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of fat, parsley or celery; salt to taste.
Cut the prepared Argentine carcass into pieces. Place peeled and diced potatoes and carrots, chopped onions and parsley root into boiling water. Cook for 15-20 minutes. Then add pieces of fish, pepper, bay leaf, salt and cook for 0.5 hours. Before serving, season with fat and sprinkle with herbs.
Fish with mushroom sauce
Fish fillet in a briquette 1 kg, frozen champignons 2 bags, onions 2 pcs., black peppercorns 15 peas, seasoning (vegeta) Edam cheese, dried bacon 200 g, kefir about 100 ml, sour cream, mayonnaise - to taste.
Sauce:
Pour vegetable oil into a thick-walled saucepan about 1.5 cm from the bottom, put black pepper, finely chopped onions, washed champignons, seasoning (vegeta) (to taste), simmer first over high heat, then (when the liquid has evaporated) turn down the heat and add kefir, simmer for another 10 minutes over medium heat.
Prepare the fish, cut the briquette into pieces approximately 2 cm thick, place on a ceramic/glass dish, sprinkle with bacon crumbles, place stewed mushrooms on top, pour over the resulting liquid, evenly distribute sour cream and mayonnaise on top, put in the microwave. 20 minutes in the microwave, then 10 minutes microwave + grill, remove, sprinkle with grated cheese (before serving), microwave again for 5 minutes
How to cook Argentina
Argentine fish belongs to the herring family. Another name for this fish is silverfish or golden smelt. It has an elongated, oblong body, a small head and rather large eyes. Such fish can be subjected to various methods of heat treatment: boiling, frying and baking; it can also be dried, stewed and pickled.
Before cooking fish, you need to remove the black mucus from the abdominal cavity, as it spoils the taste. The fish must be washed well, transferred to a cutting board and cleaned of scales. We make an incision in the abdomen with a knife and take out the unnecessary entrails. After this, the fish must be washed again in cold water and cut into pieces of the desired size. Fish meat can sometimes have a not very pleasant smell; in this case, the fish is sprayed with acetic acid or lemon juice.
How long to cook?
Add water to the fish in a saucepan and place over medium heat. The total cooking time for this fish is about half an hour.
Braised Argentina
It is possible to prepare delicious golden smelt (also known as Argentine smelt) by having the following ingredients at home:
1. Fish - 500 grams
2. Onion - 1 piece
3. Medium tomato - 2 pieces
4. Vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon
5. Flour - 50 grams
6. Mustard diluted with water (1 teaspoon/2 tablespoons of water)
6. Pepper and salt - to taste
How to cook Argentine fish
Wash the fish, trim and cut into portions. Each piece must be grated with pepper and rolled in flour. Place the resulting pieces in a hot frying pan with vegetable oil and fry a little. After this, peel the onion, cut into rings and fry. We wash the tomatoes and cut them into circles. Place fish, tomatoes, onions and mustard in a separate frying pan, greased with oil. Cover with a lid and simmer over low heat until fully cooked. Bon appetit!
Argentina fish, better known to us as golden smelt, is a North Atlantic herring, less known than ordinary herring. This fish is of great commercial importance and is caught in countries such as Norway, Denmark, Ireland, and the Faroe Islands. Our fisheries also catch it. It goes on sale frozen in blocks or individual carcasses.
What kind of fish is Argentina and where is it found?
An unusual type of fish used by humans as food is the Argentine. Its name does not mean that this valuable commercial fish lives exclusively in the waters near Argentina. The fact is that, belonging to the family of silverfish from the vast order of salmonids, the main appearance formed the basis of the Latin name argentum, meaning silver. True, Argentina can be called golden smelt (the side scales often have a golden tint), silver smelt, or simply silver smelt.
Having a relationship with herring, Argentina is characterized by:
- overall thin narrow body;
- no more than 50 centimeters long (maximum size up to 60 centimeters can be reached by 25 years) with a weight of 500 grams (the growth time of the fish is long);
- strong compression of the body from the sides;
- its significant narrowing towards the tail;
- big eyes;
- small pointed mouth;
- lower jaw pushed forward;
- not a large, rather small, head;
- coarse flakes (a distinctive feature is a silver scale ribbon running along the sides with a bluish or golden sheen);
- most often with a brown color on the back (the color can also be dark yellow or green-gray).
The main habitats of the silverfish are considered to be temperate and cold waters of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans.
She prefers to live closer to the ocean floor, usually at a depth of 55-550 meters, sometimes going to a depth of 1400 meters. Adults live in deeper waters, while young ones prefer shallower waters at a depth of 10-15 meters.
Being among the deep-sea small predators, Argentines live in schools and choose a sandy and muddy bottom. Their diet includes small crustaceans, shrimp, krill, squid, worms or small fish.
The lifespan of fish is about 29 years. Sexual maturity of the silverfish occurs only at 9–12 years of age, and spawning extends from May to September. Depending on the size of the female, she is able to “lay” from 3.5 to 7 thousand large floating (have a fat drop) eggs measuring from 3 to 3.5 ml.
The fish grows slowly. Therefore, its catch is not so large, which is carried out at depths from 30 to 100 meters (although it lives at depths from 10 to 600 meters), near Denmark (especially in the Denmark Strait), Norway, Iceland, Ireland, the Faroe Islands and in Barents (preferably in the southeast and west) and North seas. Russian vessels sometimes enter Canadian waters to catch golden smelt.
Argentina fish beneficial properties
Not everyone knows that Argentina belongs to the so-called table fish varieties valuable for humans. That is why, along with the substances supplied and enriching the meat of golden smelt, unlike other types of consumed seafood, silver smelt is rich in:
- easily digestible protein;
- fats (fish, also easily digestible);
- B vitamins such as niacin (nicotinic acid) and riboflavin;
- tocopherol (vitamin E);
- minerals represented by fluorine, nickel, molybdenum, iron, chromium, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium.
The total calorie content of dietary meat per 100 grams of product is only 88 kilocalories.
Fish Argentina benefits
It is not for nothing that this type of fish is widespread in the European part of the world. The whole secret of usefulness lies in:
- high nutritional value of fish meat;
- low fat content;
- complete absence of carbohydrates (an important factor in diabetes mellitus);
- good absorption of protein (or protein);
- stabilization of the proper functioning of all human organs;
- filling the human body with vitamins and important minerals.
The industry uses the so-called essence of the scales of this fish, which becomes the basis for the “pearl coating” for many artificial jewelry (especially artificial pearls).
In addition to being a food product, this fish is used for the production of bone meal.
What to cook with Argentine fish
The world's culinary experts have a rather ambivalent attitude towards golden smelt meat. But no one will dare to argue that its meat is incredibly tender at a high level of density.
That is why some people try to leave the original meat aroma, reminiscent of fresh cucumber (but this is only in freshly caught fish), while others try to remove it with vinegar or lemon juice.
In any case, in order not to spoil the pleasant taste, the dark black mucus is first removed from the abdominal part, the scales are cleaned and, if possible, the fish is marinated for several hours. Only after this can you start cooking golden smelt.
All types of heat treatment (cooking, frying, grilling, steaming, stewing, hot smoking, drying) can be considered acceptable cooking methods.
Contraindications and harm
As for contraindications, they are not wide and boil down mainly to the presence of individual intolerance to fish meat.
In addition, overeating can also cause intestinal upset such as poisoning.
