Fishing Opener

              Unable to get photos on here for now, I'll go without and add them at a later date.
              Another fishing opener come and gone. 66 so far. They are not what they used to be, so full of anticipation and excitement you couldn't sleep,like during deer or duck opener, all about getting up early at 4 or 5 AM with some family and friends and you're getting geared up and going over plans, still groggy from drinking one too many the night before when you were making plans, developing strategy and getting your gear ready. Toast with peanut butter and coffee and a smoke and you come around  and are excited again.
           
            Soak your fish in milk for 20 minutes before you cook it to make it clean and fresh tasting.   .

Guacamole with Fresh Garden Vegetables

                 Avocado, cherry or grape tomatoes, green onions, garlic cloves, jalapeno peppers, squash blossoms, olive oil, lime juice, cilantro, parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Chop all ingredients and toss/stir in olive oil, or food process if you have kids and need to disguise the ingredients.
                   Serve with chips of your choice.
                   Boy do I welcome the return of spring. I can smell it through a foot of snow on the ground. The sun is warm on my face. This winter was a cold blooded killer here in Minnesota. I'll be in southern California next winter after a spring and summer on the lake, in the garden and on the golf course. Plus I will get out and visit friends. I was a hermit of circumstance and environment this winter.   

Panfried Sunfish w/ Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, Garlic and Wine

             If you grew up in the Midwest it is likely that your earliest fishing memories involve a worm and a bobber and a sunfish. Watching your bobber was more interesting than not watching it.  If you caught fish, it was way more interesting.

              As you matured you did other things to keep fishing interesting, like shooting leeches with a bb gun as they were attached and hung vertically from the palms of the hands of your siblings or  friends on the shore of Lake Winnibigosh. Later on would come minnow eating contests, and twin brother Jim attempting to swallow a frog on a bet. He wanted the 35 cents to buy a pack of smokes. The frog kept jumping out of his mouth. I think we were drinking beer by then.

               Then, as an adult, Sally drank down 4 leeches, unbeknownst to her, in successive Black  Russians while on our fishing launch on Lake Mille Lacs. It was after dark and the Black Russians were as dark as the leeches. She never saw them. It was a perfect storm. Sally was pissed the next day when the story was leaked. Non the worse for it though, but wiser from the experience.

                No matter what your age, you should season your fish filets with lemon pepper, dredge in flour and pan fry them in oil or butter a couple of minutes on each side till bronze. Remove filets from pan( black cast iron skillet ) and add halved cherry tomatoes, garlic, fresh basil, chives and white wine like chardonnay to the pan and reduce and add a couple of pats of butter. Pour over filets.

               Exquisite. As good as childhood or adolescence ever was, these days.          

Grilled Salmon w/ Fresh Fruit Salsa

         I caught a 5 lb freshwater coho salmon once while shore casting with a big rainbow Rapala and then a 10 lb steelhead twenty minutes later. That was at Lutsen Resort out of the mouth of the Poplar River in Lake Superior. Perhaps the signature day of fishing in my long, modest and distinctly amateur career as a fisherman. I was with my oldest son, Alex, while he was on summer break from college. We cooked the stuffed whole coho in foil in the embers of a lakeside fire on that early summer evening. The next day we caught plenty of walleyes on Poplar Lake on the Gunflint Trail.  I've had some lucky days.

        Use wild caught Alaskan salmon if possible or even better,  your own catch of Great Lakes
 salmon or trout. Brine the fish filets in a solution of 1 / 4 cup sea or pickling salt to 1 qt water for a half hour. Rinse. Brush with olive oil and season liberally with a good  lemon pepper( or make your own ). Grill skin on or off filets on your gas grill or Weber with charcoal or wood, covered, until med rare to medium - 4 to 5 minutes -  and remove from heat. You do not have to turn them over. They will continue cooking a little more and will retain moisture.

         Make your fresh fruit salsa a half hour before you cook your fish. As the fruits macerate with the spices and herbs they all uniquely influence the salsa as they make their own juice. Dice up your favorite fruits - mangos, pineapple or cantaloupe as the base, plus strawberries, kiwis, oranges and/or others ( watermelon) with green onions, sweet and hot red peppers, garlic, chopped parsley, cilantro and lime juice. Stir gently a few times. You could add a little brandy or rum to this, too.

          Place salsa on top of fish and serve family or buffet style with additional salsa.
       

Corned Beef Hash w/ Eggs on Toast

            You've gotta start out with a photo on a food blog but my system is down right now so here's an older photo of a light gumbo or bouillabaisse style soup with shrimp and summer vegetables - peppers, tomatoes, zucchini , etc..., served over rice. I can't wait for spring and summer and the exhuberant ebullience of fresh vegetables and fish simmered in God's own broth.

             But today I am writing of corned beef hash with toast and eggs. To be honest I'd rather have the pictured soup right now, but earlier today I fried onions, sweet and hot peppers. potatoes and corned beef  in my black cast iron pan till tender and crisp and ate it over toast with an over easy egg on top. Irish heaven on the day before St Pat"s. 

          
        

Corned Beef Sandwiches

             The tender fatty succulence of a just cooked and sliced corned beef brisket on bread is the very definition of a sandwich. A pungent mustard and/or a horse radish mayonnaise makes it the perfect accompaniment to tonight's Mn state high school boy's basketball tournament.
  
             Brine your own brisket( BYOB) or get one already brined and packaged. The brisket will usually weigh from just over 2 lbs to just over 4 lbs. Rinse well, cover and simmer in water on the stove top or in the oven for an hour per pound at 300 degrees until fork tender. Luscious.
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Cooking with Vaseline

No photo for this one, but I flunked cooking merit badge as a boy scout when I cooked pork chops in vaseline petroleum jelly while on a canoe trip. I forgot the cooking oil and figured vaseline was slippery like the oil so I put some in the pan.  Hind sight says I should have roasted them on a stick over the fire or done them on a grill grate. I was 13 yrs old. I boiled coffee grounds in water for a half hour to make coffee. The counselor spit it out. He was attempting to reduce the taste of burnt vaseline ( tar ) from his mouth. It didn't work. I flunked.