Asian Carp Recipe – Shrimp Scampi Style Asian Carp

I’ve got another Asian carp recipe coming your way. That’s right, Asian carp! This menacing, invasive species which is reeking ecological chaos throughout North America is also one of the most delicious and nutritious fish on the planet. In this blog and video, I’ll show you how to make Asian Carp Scampi! Shrimp scampi is a very popular seafood dish that you can at restaurants all over the country. But let me tell you, it’s even better when made with silver or bighead Asian carp. Here’s how to do it…

ASIAN CARP SCAMPI

Serving Size: 3-4 people

Ingredients:

2 lbs. Asian carp fillets
½ cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons minced garlic
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 small minced shallot (or 4 tablespoons minced red onion as a substitute)
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
Wild rice

Step #1 – Prepare fillets

There are many options for this first step, you can use either boneless sections of Asian carp, you can use whole fillets, or you can debone the fillets while cooking, as I’ll be doing here. Whatever the case, you’ll first want to remove the dark meat on the back of the fillet. This is the section of low-twitch muscle fibers that all fish have which they use for long-distance swimming, however it does a little bit of a strong flavor, so you’ll want to remove it.

Step #2 – Mix Ingredients

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add garlic, onions and red pepper flakes
Cook, while stirring frequently, for 2-3 minutes

Step#3 – Add Fish

Add fish and season with salt and pepper to taste while stirring all ingredients together thoroughly
Cook until fish becomes flakey

Step #4 – Add remaining Ingredients

Stir in parsley, lemon juice, and lemon zest

Step #5 – (Optional) Remove Bones from Fish and Return to Pan

Let me add a quick comment for this step, everyone makes such a big deal out of fish bones, especially with these Asian carp. It’s no trouble at all to pick the bones out of the fillet while eating them, but if you want to make this recipe in a boneless fashion, you can simply remove the fillets from the pan, quickly debone them, which is very easy to do as their bones are rather large, and then just put the boneless fish back in the pan.

Step #6 – Serve and Enjoy

Serve on a bed of wild rice while hot and fresh from the pan and enjoy

There you have it my friends, Asian carp scampi! You will definitely have to try this recipe and if you’d like to learn more about Asian carp and how to catch and cook them, check out my book, Eat the Enemy.