Tag: cooking

Fresh Fish Recipes You’ve Got to Try

Posted on Staff

Sure, a lot of burgers and hot dogs get grilled at the lake, but what about the fish?!

Perhaps the most popular way to prepare fresh fish is to fry it. After all, fish fries are as iconic as a good, old-fashion cookout when it comes to lake living, but aside from deep fried, there are plenty of other ways to cook up a delicious fish meal.

Next time you’re lakeside with a boat load of the day’s catch, try your hand at one of these fin-tastic recipes to enjoy with your family and friends.

fried catfish

Barbecue Smoked Lake Trout Fillets

Ingredients:

  • 8 boneless trout fillets with skin on
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
  • lemon juice, about 3 Tbsp
  • 1/2 tsp. fennel seed
  • 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
  • 1/2 tsp. freshly chopped cilantro
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 cups wood chips (apple, cherry, mesquite) for cooking

Directions:

Begin by soaking your wood chips in a bowl of warm water for about 30 minutes. This will allow enough time for the wood to absorb the appropriate amount of moisture.

While your chips are soaking, rinse your trout fillets, and pat them dry with a paper towel.

Combine all the spices and other ingredients and season the fish on both sides. You can do this with your bare hands or brush the mixture on with a basting brush.

Preheat your grill on high for about five minutes.

Once your grill has preheated, remove the wood chips from the water and spread out across the bottom of the grill. Close the lid once more, and allow the wood chips to smoke well.

After the smoke has built up, place the prepared fish in a grill basket, or directly on top of the top shelf. Be sure to place the fillets skin side down.

Turn the heat down to low and close the lid. Allow for the fish to smoke for about 20 minutes without opening the lid, then serve.

Courtesy of: From Lake to Plate

Southern Seafood Gumbo

Ingredients: 

  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 celery stalks with leaves, chopped
  • 1 medium green pepper, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 46 oz spicy V8 tomato juice
  • 14.5 oz diced tomatoes, undrained
  • 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
  • 16 oz frozen okra, sliced and thawed
  • 1 lb catfish fillets, cubed
  • 3/4 lbs uncooked medium shrimp, deveined and peeled
  • 3 cups cooked long grain rice

Directions:

Using your olive oil, saute your onion, pepper and celery in a Dutch oven until the vegetables are tender. Next add your minced garlic and continue cooking for an additional minute.

Stir in the tomato juice, tomatoes and cayenne pepper and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer, and cover for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes is up, add in your catfish cubes and okra. Cook this for eight minutes before adding in your shrimp.

While your shrimp cooks, which should take about seven minutes, place your rice into individual bowls.

Ladle gumbo into rice bowls and serve.

Courtesy of: Taste of Home

Beer Battered Walleye

Ingredients:

  • 2 quarts vegetable oil
  • 8 (4 oz) fish fillets
  • 2 Tbsp. garlic powder
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 2 Tbsp. paprika
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 (12 oz) bottle of beer

Directions:

Heat your oil in a deep fryer until it reaches 365 degrees Fahrenheit, or 185 degrees Celcius.

While it’s heating, rise your walleye fillets, and pat them dry with a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper.

Next, combine your flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix your egg into the dry ingredients mixture to create the base of your batter.

Slowly mix in the beer until a thin batter is produced. If you can see the fish through the batter once you have dipped it, the batter is the correct consistency.

Dip the fillets into your beer batter, and then drop them into the hot oil, one at a time. Be careful not to splash yourself with oil as you are doing so.

Fry the fish, turning once, until both sides of the fillet are golden.

Drain excess oil, and allow to cool on a paper towel before serving.

Courtesy of: Genius Kitchen 

Parmesan Crusted Baked Fish

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
  • 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated finely
  • 3 green onions, green tops only, thinly sliced
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire  sauce
  • 3 Tbsp butter, unsalted at room temperature
  • 1/2 tsp hot sauce, Tabasco works
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
  • 4 (6 oz) fish fillets
  • 2 Tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. While the oven is preheating, lightly butter a baking dish to prevent fish from sticking.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix cheese, breadcrumbs, mayo, onions and sauces together. Add in lemon juice, butter and salt and pepper.

Rinse and pat fillets dry, and season heavily with salt and pepper. Place fish in the lightly buttered baking dish.

Spread three tablespoons of cheese mixture over each fillet, and bake for eight to 10 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly.

Finish off the fish by broiling them for two to three minutes. Allow for a few minutes to cool, then top with parsley and serve.

Courtesy of: MyRecipes.com

5 Tips on Hosting for the Holidays

Posted on Staff

Getting ready for the holidays can be fun, but it can also become stressful if you have too much on your mind.

Whether you plan to throw a family party, or just have the house become more festive for sporadic guests who tend to “pop in” to spread a little holiday cheer, there are some things you’ll want to consider when hosting for the holidays.

1. Look ahead and be prepared

If you are hosting the biggest holiday bash or waiting for friends and family to pop in, it’s best to get an idea of what to expect. For the more formal parties, make sure to create a guest list.

holidays;hosting

If you’re only expecting Aunt Peggy and Uncle Bob to make an appearance to your house, and maybe you heard that your long lost sister from the other side of the country is going to be in town, keep a running a list of all your “potentials”.

This will give you a running tally so you are more prepared. It’s better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.

2. Take inventory, buy items early, and stock up

Whether you are preparing for the entire family to come to the house or just a few people, begin buying the things you need early, especially specialty items. During the holiday season you’d be surprised how many people are looking for the same items you are. Get it early.

If you know many of your guests drink wine, order the bottles well in advance. There is no better feeling than knowing you have everything you need to enjoy the holidays before they actually happen. This includes buying your turkey early.

If you plan to do any cooking, make sure you have all the necessary pots and cutlery. Nothing worse than having to head to the store in the middle of the night so you can buy the proper size pan to cook that fancy dish.

3. Clear Clutter and Rearrange

Free up coat racks, closets, shoe racks, etc, so guests can have first dibs. It’s fine to keep your winter boots, a coat, hat, and scarf placed by the door but take all the extras that collected there over the past year to another closet. Last thing you want to do is be running around making room for guests to hang their winter stuff.

If you are planning a party, this will become even more important. You may need to designate an area to drape dozens of coats if it becomes a big group.

4. Prepare for seating

Of course this will be more important for hosting large numbers of guests, but even if you are expecting friends to occasionally pop-in, make sure there is enough seating that is comfortable.

Often times this is overlooked and it’s easy to make guests feel like they are intruding by making them stand while you shuffle clutter off the old sofa and shove everything in the back of a closet. If you are hosting a meal, make sure you have enough seats and eating spots.

5. Think safety

Lastly, think about safety issues. Again, hosting a large crowd can become a liability but it’s never a bad time to think about safety even if it’s just a few of you. For instance, keep cleaning products in the bathroom out of reach of children.

Keep glassware and fragile knickknacks safely pushed back from any edges and are away from harming anyone. It’s also pretty to show-off your festive candles but make sure they are situated in safe areas.

But most importantly, leave room to have fun!

For more tips about celebrating the holidays at your lake home, read our “Tips for Celebrating Christmas on the Lake” article.

Grilling Out this Memorial Day

Posted on Staff

hamburgers cooking on a grill in front of American FlagThis weekend, Americans across the country will celebrate Memorial Day, to honor those who died while serving in the nation’s armed forces.

What better place to celebrate life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness than on the lake, surrounded by our loved ones and this country’s natural beauty?

If you are hosting a Memorial Day barbecue on the lake, here is a checklist to help you get started with your preparations.

Clean up Your Act!

Spring is the perfect time to give your grill a good scrub-down. This is true even if you haven’t used the grill since last fall. Give it a good cleaning to remove dirt, dust, grime and other things you don’t want on that first burger of the season.

If you can remove the grill grates, soak them in a bucket, or plastic tub, of hot water and dish soap, then give them a good scrub.

Rinse thoroughly with a garden hose before putting them back in.

Scrub the grill hood and inside walls to remove any build-up. If your grill uses propane or natural gas, make sure all the jet ports are clean and free of gunk or debris.

Give me fuel, give me fire…

Take a careful look at that half-empty bag of charcoal in the garage.

Will it REALLY be enough? If you can’t say for sure, better safe than sorry.

Grab a fresh bag of charcoal and make sure there’s plenty to go around. Unless you use self-lighting charcoal, make sure you have lighter fluid, too.

If you use a propane tank, make sure there is enough propane. If you don’t have a gauge attached, here’s an easy trick to find out how much propane is left in your tank.

Still shopping for your grill this season? Click here for tips on finding the grill of your dreams.

Serving Guides

Keep these serving guidelines in mind when you’re planning the menu.

  • For boneless meat, such as hamburgers, most experts recommend between 1/3 and ½ pound of meat per adult.
  • For meat with bones, such as ribs or chicken wings, plan for somewhere between 12 and 16 ounces per person.
    • This breaks down to approximately four to six ribs, depending on the type, and 10 wings.
  • Side dishes vary, depending on how filling they are. For most dishes, experts recommend four to six ounces per person.
  • With a side salad, go for one big handful per person.
  • When in doubt, round up. It’s far better to have leftovers than to run to the store in the middle of your barbecue because you ran out of  something!

Get a Solid Head Count

While this seems like a no-brainer, it goes hand in hand with making sure you have enough food.

If you’re just feeding your immediate family, this isn’t a problem. On the other hand, if you invited all your friends, family and coworkers, you might have more guests than you can handle!

It may seem like overkill, but treating your barbecue like an invitation-only event can save your it.

Don’t be afraid to divvy up the side dish duties, either.

Most guests are happy to bring a dish. If you insist on buying everything, even a modest back yard barbecue can easily run upwards of $300.

Make sure you have plenty of parking for your event, too.

If you can, tell people where to park in your invitation. That way you won’t see their tire tracks in your front lawn through the month of June.

Get the Tools for the Job!

From a first-timer to a veteran grillmaster, everyone needs the tools for the job. Make sure you have each of these before you get started.

  • Basic tools: Metal spatula, metal tongs, basting brush, barbecue fork, butcher knife, barbecue scrub brush
  • Advanced tools: meat thermometer, gloves, bottle opener, meat tenderizer, meat shredder
  • Specialty tools: Shish kabob skewers, corn on the cob skewers, squirt bottle
  • Other equipment: Paper plates, disposable cups and silverware, outdoor garbage can, paper towels, tin foil, serving utensils, cooler

Turn up the Music (to a reasonable level)

Having some patriotic jams can make you the life of the party this Memorial Day.

If you don’t fancy yourself a DJ, online music services like Sirius, I Heart Radio, Spotify, and Pandora typically have all-American stations and playlists for Memorial Day.

When outdoors, remember to keep the volume down to a reasonable level as sound can carry great distances across the lake.

Just because you love rocking out to Lynyrd Skynyrd doesn’t mean the rest of the neighborhood wants to (even if they should.)

Have a “Worst Case Scenario” Plan for the Weather

No matter how much we plan, Mother Nature doesn’t always cooperate with our outdoor party schedule. Have a contingency plan in case it gets rainy, or worse.

If the sky opens up, don’t panic!

Most grilled dishes can be cooked inside, on your stove or in the oven. Make sure you have adequate seating for everyone, and put a movie on.

A little rain is no reason to cancel your celebration!

Remember the Reason for the Season

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the service of the United States.

Don’t forget to honor them during your event. Be sure to thank any veterans or members of the military for their service to our country.