Finally a summer day which I have applauded with a Mn Gumbo that included pepper jack brats( from Thielen's in Pierz) and largemouth bass, plus the usual suspects ( onions, green peppers, red too, and celery). I sauteed the veggies till half done in olive oil, added the raw brats and cooked slow till all were done , add enough flour to absorb the oil, added garlic( plenty),paprika, crushed red pepper, bay leaf, fresh basil, oregano, thyme in average amounts, and then water, chicken bouillon and v-8 juice, and finally the bass filets. The bass are the last - they only take a few minutes to poach in the special slightly thickened broth of the gumbo.
Cook brown rice on the side. Place cooked rice in individual serving bowls, ladle gumbo over, strew with a mix of the same fresh chopped herbs.
Note: Do the onions, peppers, celery slowly, as well as the brats. It's about a 20 minute to a half hour process. Enjoy it. Have a glass of wine or your favorite beer. Sing along. Talk with your 14 yr old daughter about the summer play that she is in. Stir it all in the pan, get outside and throw the ball for your pooch to fetch. Get back in and stir again, humming along.
Recall that you have leftover polenta from last night's supper. Heat that up in the microwave. and serve as the surprise side. It is so great.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
The Bowstring Boogie
Fished on Bowstring the last couple of days with lifelong buddies, an annual trip that I do not make annually, which makes it even more special for me. Usually in Canada, but not this time. This trip was close, accommodating, and affordable.
Not great fishing but decent with walleyes from Bowstring and Winnie. Plenty to pack plus to fry - including northern and perch and a dandy tullibie, which I threw back and regret that action as now I would like to pan-smoke it and eat it with mustard and orange marmalade or apricot preserves., with the addition of garlic, red or jalapeno pepper, and cilantro as a basting and/or dipping sauce.
Dang, those sweet hot spiced plenty of garic sauces are good on smoked goods. Add green onion and parsley too. Whoee!
Floured fish deep fried, calico beans with jalapeno peppers, and boiled red potatoes with butter and garlic had us in Bowstring heaven. Sweat running down Kurt's face and chest and others whooping and hollering - we knew that we were eating for sure, and that it was dam good.
Geiger's Trails End Resort on the north end of Bowstring.Exceptional efficiency, housekeeping cabins, cook your own. The real deal. Best fish cleaning house I've ever seen or used.
Not great fishing but decent with walleyes from Bowstring and Winnie. Plenty to pack plus to fry - including northern and perch and a dandy tullibie, which I threw back and regret that action as now I would like to pan-smoke it and eat it with mustard and orange marmalade or apricot preserves., with the addition of garlic, red or jalapeno pepper, and cilantro as a basting and/or dipping sauce.
Dang, those sweet hot spiced plenty of garic sauces are good on smoked goods. Add green onion and parsley too. Whoee!
Floured fish deep fried, calico beans with jalapeno peppers, and boiled red potatoes with butter and garlic had us in Bowstring heaven. Sweat running down Kurt's face and chest and others whooping and hollering - we knew that we were eating for sure, and that it was dam good.
Geiger's Trails End Resort on the north end of Bowstring.Exceptional efficiency, housekeeping cabins, cook your own. The real deal. Best fish cleaning house I've ever seen or used.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
A Sock in the Eye
Supper tonight wild caught Alaskan sockeye salmon poached med rare to med in white wine - a Riesling - somewhat sweet, served with a fresh fruit salsa involving equal amounts of strawberries, avocado, orange, green onion seasoned w/ garlic, red pepper, and dill, salt and black pepper to taste. Oh, and some apricot preserves. Excellent.
Never overcook salmon. It jumps a step between cooking and eating - for example if you cook it to med rare it will be med when you eat it, and so on. Salmon gets dry and loses flavor when it is cooked beyond medium.
Sockeye this time of the year is " Copper River Red," probably the best Salmon in the world, especially if you have your own local source like a good friend who fishes them or a trusted market.
It tastes of itself and of the sea. You can eat it raw sushi style, or salt and sugar cured lox style; add dill and it is Scandinavian.
Never overcook salmon. It jumps a step between cooking and eating - for example if you cook it to med rare it will be med when you eat it, and so on. Salmon gets dry and loses flavor when it is cooked beyond medium.
Sockeye this time of the year is " Copper River Red," probably the best Salmon in the world, especially if you have your own local source like a good friend who fishes them or a trusted market.
It tastes of itself and of the sea. You can eat it raw sushi style, or salt and sugar cured lox style; add dill and it is Scandinavian.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
A Cool Spring Evening Supper
A simple supper on the patio by myself because my daughter is at a friend's house overnight.
Grilled Muenster cheese on New England Brown Bread done with olive oil, instead of butter, along with tomato soup seasoned w/ red pepper, basil, and garlic. Excellent. Dunk, for sure.
Microwave steamed broccoli seasoned with garlic, olive oil, butter, black pepper and lemon juice on the side. Perfect.
East wind still still blowing. No fishing. Dang. All out of frozen after last night's final frozen cache of walleye.
French Open tennis on tv. Klister( sp) beat by a lanky lefty from the Netherlands. Good tennis.
Grilled Muenster cheese on New England Brown Bread done with olive oil, instead of butter, along with tomato soup seasoned w/ red pepper, basil, and garlic. Excellent. Dunk, for sure.
Microwave steamed broccoli seasoned with garlic, olive oil, butter, black pepper and lemon juice on the side. Perfect.
East wind still still blowing. No fishing. Dang. All out of frozen after last night's final frozen cache of walleye.
French Open tennis on tv. Klister( sp) beat by a lanky lefty from the Netherlands. Good tennis.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
I am 8 by 12 in the garden and ready to plant, but it is still too cold - frost possible tonight. Also turned over a couple of herb and flower gardens off the patio.
I am ready and waiting.
Stop it east wind so I can fish.
Bass from the freezer tonight sauteed and finished off w/ chardonnay, butter, garlic, red pepper and dill. Exquisite. Served along side onions, cabbage and carrots.
Everything's great so far except the weather.Too cold. Wrong wind.
Loons are plaintive. Me, too.
I am ready and waiting.
Stop it east wind so I can fish.
Bass from the freezer tonight sauteed and finished off w/ chardonnay, butter, garlic, red pepper and dill. Exquisite. Served along side onions, cabbage and carrots.
Everything's great so far except the weather.Too cold. Wrong wind.
Loons are plaintive. Me, too.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
A Bob Dylan Day
Outdoor food is garden food. It's just about that time in the Brainerd Lakes area. There has been no rush because of the cool spring.
I've planted early in the past and the plants just sit there and don't grow.
Finally began turning it over w/ a shovel today. More tomorrow and thursday - expanding my small plot from 6 by 12 to 18 by 12. I want more than what I can eat in season because of the price of fresh produce in the stores these days as well as because of my increasing realization that most of what you get in supermarkets is probably poisoned by pesticides and herbicides. Deeply. I can manage my small plot w/o those poisons.
I have been impatient over the years - a little less now at almost 63. Daily progress over a week will yield as much or more than a long hard driven get it in day. I take the time now and then to scan the sky for eagles ( they're often working the shoreline for fish), or to throw the tennis ball for my brown lab pup. He fetches it right up. I'm counting on him for pheasants in the fall in some local ditches and fields - just he and me, a two man team.
A break for lemonade at 10 AM on the patio is requisite . A morning cigar - not inhaled anymore - and a few pages of reading - AS ALWAYS. JULIA, currently, and Sydney Sheldon's autobiography. If the east wind would stop blowing I would discontinue yard and garden work and cast the shoreline for bluegills using a flyrod with a black gnat. Don't tell anyone.
It's the 24th of May and there is a program on Mn Public Radio entitled " Boy From The North Country" about Bob Dylan's early days and his Mn roots which includes anecdotes and music from back in the day, so I take an early lunch and a beer to savor that. I sit on the patio and crank up the radio. It is great.
A friend calls and intones "rainy days on the great lakes, walking the hills of old Duluth" and does a riff on his harmonica. He has been listening to the same program. What an interlude on what a day.
Thank God for Spring.
I've planted early in the past and the plants just sit there and don't grow.
Finally began turning it over w/ a shovel today. More tomorrow and thursday - expanding my small plot from 6 by 12 to 18 by 12. I want more than what I can eat in season because of the price of fresh produce in the stores these days as well as because of my increasing realization that most of what you get in supermarkets is probably poisoned by pesticides and herbicides. Deeply. I can manage my small plot w/o those poisons.
I have been impatient over the years - a little less now at almost 63. Daily progress over a week will yield as much or more than a long hard driven get it in day. I take the time now and then to scan the sky for eagles ( they're often working the shoreline for fish), or to throw the tennis ball for my brown lab pup. He fetches it right up. I'm counting on him for pheasants in the fall in some local ditches and fields - just he and me, a two man team.
A break for lemonade at 10 AM on the patio is requisite . A morning cigar - not inhaled anymore - and a few pages of reading - AS ALWAYS. JULIA, currently, and Sydney Sheldon's autobiography. If the east wind would stop blowing I would discontinue yard and garden work and cast the shoreline for bluegills using a flyrod with a black gnat. Don't tell anyone.
It's the 24th of May and there is a program on Mn Public Radio entitled " Boy From The North Country" about Bob Dylan's early days and his Mn roots which includes anecdotes and music from back in the day, so I take an early lunch and a beer to savor that. I sit on the patio and crank up the radio. It is great.
A friend calls and intones "rainy days on the great lakes, walking the hills of old Duluth" and does a riff on his harmonica. He has been listening to the same program. What an interlude on what a day.
Thank God for Spring.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Fishing Alone
If you are fishing alone, you are probably not. There is likely to be a loon working the dropoff beyond you, a great blue heron working the shoreline, and a bald eagle above you working both , plus your in between depth.. There was. It was beautiful.
I used a fly rod. they didn't. It was bluegills I caught. Nice ones.
From what I could see, I caught more than they did. A great day for Homo Sapiens.
They eat them raw. I don't. This time I cooked them with a cracker crumb breading in canola oil in a black cast iron pan. I seasoned the breading with black pepper, crushed red pepper, granulated garlic, parsley and dillweed.
We enjoyed them equally.
I used a fly rod. they didn't. It was bluegills I caught. Nice ones.
From what I could see, I caught more than they did. A great day for Homo Sapiens.
They eat them raw. I don't. This time I cooked them with a cracker crumb breading in canola oil in a black cast iron pan. I seasoned the breading with black pepper, crushed red pepper, granulated garlic, parsley and dillweed.
We enjoyed them equally.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
