Sunday, March 15, 2009

From Lake to Plate: Fresh Caught Pike 2 Ways


Dan the Man got a day out ice fishing in the Adirondacks with his cousins last weekend. It was a perfect ice fishing day with lots of sun, little wind, but still a good bit of ice thickness below. The lads even managed to catch a bunch of respectable fish and Dan brought home a couple of small pikes which he filleted and we prepared en kebab with some red peppers, mushrooms and onions, after marinating everything in a nice Italian dressing for a couple of hours.



Mysteriously, I kept getting bone after bone in my pike portions, while the rest of the family plates were bone-free. We took the leftover cooked fish, tweezered out the bones and made up some fried pike balls the next day after improvising with some smashed up corn chips and they turned out to be spicy and tasty.



Here's the Crispy Pike Balls Recipe:

2 cups flaked cooked pike (or other mild white fish)
1/2 cup cooked red pepper, chopped fine
1/2 cup cooked mushrooms, chopped fine
1 egg
1/2 cup smashed corn chip crumbs
2 scallions, chopped fine
1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp. dried basil
Salt and Pepper to taste

2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil

If you don't have leftover grilled red pepper and mushrooms, as we did for this recipe from the last night's kebabs, you can briefly saute some red pepper and mushrooms in a little olive oil until softened.

Mix fish, red pepper, mushrooms, egg, scallions, corn chip crumbs and seasonings together. Shape into ping pong ball sized balls (1 inch diameter).

Heat butter and oil in a skillet. Fry pike balls until nicely CRISPY and browned on all sides.

Drain and serve hot.

Makes about ten pike balls.



I can't resist showing off Dan in his "male catalogue model" pose caught on camera below. Isn't he handsome?

7 comments:

Arlene Delloro said...

Larry would so love living in the Adirondacks. He hates the cold, but has ice fished in the past. Great photos!

Maria Verivaki said...

really interesting post - i have never seen a frozen body of water, and couldnt imagine anyone looking as though they were basking under the winter sun on deckchairs sitting on top of a sheet of ice!
and i would love to try some pike too

FOODalogue said...

Yes, Dan looks good -- and does that pike he brought home for you. Love that you did it 2-ways.

Tina said...

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Tina

Anonymous said...

Loved this post. The fish looks great and the man is rather fetching, too. I have a similar shot of mine in the same outfit on my blog from this winter.

Maggie said...

The corn chips and mushrooms have me dying to try the pike balls. And there's nothing like a man who can handle a big auger.

Alicia Foodycat said...

He looks like he had a great time!