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Misc: Fried Lake Fish

Source of Recipe

From "Mad Hungry: Cravings" by Lucinda Quinn


Recipe Introduction

"Mine was a youth spent in Windsor, Ontario, on the Detroit River, smack dab in the middle of the Great Lakes, with their myriad lake fish: walleye, pike, perch, lake trout, largemouth bass. If you weren't out on your boat catching the fish yourself, you were at a roadhouse scarfing down fried fillets and spinning the lazy Susan around to bring your favorite relish within reach. Those roadhouses constitute my first restaurant memories: rollicking joints where families and laughing children shared the room with beer-drinking buddies. Perch and walleye pike are staple fish of Midwestern roadhouses, but you can use any thin, firm, white fish fillets."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ Four 6-ounce pike or perch fillets
â—¦ 1 teaspoon coarse salt
â—¦ ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
â—¦ ¼ cup Wondra (superfine) flour
â—¦ 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
â—¦ 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
â—¦ 1 lemon, cut into wedges
â—¦ Old-Fashioned Relish Platter


Recipe

Season the fish fillets with the salt and pepper and dust with the flour.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and oil and swirl them around. Place the fish skin side down in the skillet and cook until the skin is crispy and brown, about 4 minutes. Gently turn the fish and continue cooking just until the fillets are cooked through and the fish flakes when pierced with the tines of a fork, 3 to 4 minutes more.

Transfer the fish to serving plates, garnish with the lemon wedges, and serve immediately, with the relish platter.

Serves 4



Old-Fashioned Relish Platter:

"This relish platter — pickled beets, corn relish, and cottage cheese — is a facsimile of the one perched on a lazy Susan in the center of the table at the Midwestern roadhouse where I had some of my first restaurant meals. Fried perch or walleye pike was the featured attraction, and you filled up on the array of pickled vegetables and cheese while you waited. Many different desserts, like peach pie, were in the wings for dessert!"

Pickled Beets:
â—¦ 1 cup water
â—¦ 1 cup white wine vinegar
â—¦ 2 tablespoons coarse salt
â—¦ ¼ cup sugar
â—¦ 8 ounces beets, peeled, sliced lengthwise ¼ inch thick, and cut into matchsticks

Corn Relish:
â—¦ 2 ears corn, kernels stripped from the cob, or 2 cups frozen corn, thawed and drained
â—¦ 2 scallions, thinly sliced
â—¦ ½ red bell pepper, finely chopped
â—¦ 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
â—¦ 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
â—¦ 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
â—¦ 1 teaspoon coarse salt
â—¦ ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

â—¦ 1 cup (8 ounces) cottage cheese

For the beets:
Bring the water, vinegar, salt, and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the beets, remove from the heat, and let cool to room temperature.

For the corn relish:
Combine the corn, scallions, red pepper, celery, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.

Transfer the beets, relish, and cottage cheese to serving bowls and serve.

Serves 4



• Panfry Success:
Start with tempered fish: in spite of popular wisdom, fish should be at room temperature when cooked, just like meat. So give it 10 minutes out of the fridge or cooler before frying. Then, when it hits the hot pan, it will head straight to golden crispy instead of steaming as it comes to room temperature. All you need is some superfine flour (Wondra), seasoning, and the hot fat sizzling in the pan — the butter brings flavor, but the oil heats to the higher temperature necessary for that golden patina. For crispy skin, start skin side down, then flip. If necessary, add more butter or oil and flip again.