pan fried okavango bream

We are a family of keen fishermen........and one woman! However we are very different from many others. We fish strictly for the pan. We have an unspoken rule in our family; dont keep it or shoot it unless you intend to clean it, scale it and eat it. As a result we rarely fish for non edible fish unless we have a gastronomic plan for the catch.
We also only fish for what we need to eat. It doesnt matter if the fish are biting like mad. If we cant eat it or dont intend to freeze it, we simply stop fishing.
Anywayzzzzzzz...
BREAM!! Now thats our main target fish. When freshly caught and gutted and cleaned imediately, there is little to beat this freshwater fish. Frozen commercially produced bream is second best. It is normally also quickly gutted and cleaned which is the only method of totally avoiding the so called muddy taste that bream sometimes are reputed to have.

We cook bream in two ways. Filleted, egged and breadcrumbed then quickly fried. Its pretty easy as long as you let the breadcrumbs set for 30 minutes in the fridge.

The way I am going to deal with is pan fried whole fish. This is a pretty common way of serving it in restaurants and eating it traditionally.

There is nothing fancy about ingredients. Its all in the method.

Ingredients.
Teaspoon Fresh coarse ground black pepper per fish
Quarter cup olive oil per fish
fresh chopped fennel or parsley if available.
lemon wedges to serve

Method

Score the fish diagonally in two or three place on either side of the fish. This allows the fish to cook evenly and to let in the herbs and oil.
Thoroughly toss and coat the fish inside and out in the oil and herbs and black pepper.

Lay the fish in a heavy hot pan on one side and cook for about 10 minutes or until well browned. Turn over and cook the other side the same way.
Serve immediately with the lemon wedges and french fries. Delish!!!