The bonus of having friends and family that are outdoor enthusiasts is that when I visit, they usually have a surplus of some type of food that they are more than happy to share. At my dads, that could be pheasant from his hunting trips to South Dakota. Or Venison from the Fall deer season. About a month ago I made quick stop at my brothers house, and he sent me home with 2 huge filets of Northern Pike which he had caught.

In case you are unaware of what Northern Pike is, here is my buddy Brian who caught this one the other day while out on the ice house with the same brother that gave me these filets. Nice catch Brian!

I popped them into my freezer when I got home and waited for a day to cook them up. Well, that day has come and gone. Since the filets were rather large, I decided to try two different cooking methods. The first was like a fish soup.

First I had to chop up the fish into manageable bite sized pieces.

Threw the pieces into a bowl and seasoned them up.

With the other filet, I put the pieces into a plastic bag with some olive oil, beaten egg, and spices. Got as much air out of the bag as I could and left it to marinate in the fridge. You'll see later what happened with that filet :)

For my soup base I used what stock I had left over in my fridge. I don't like to waste, so I used what I had left of beef and chicken stock. For some added flavor I also added in a dollop of better than bullion, that stuff, if you've never used it, is amazing.

Once my broth was hot and the taste was to my liking, I tossed in the fish and let them poach for a few minutes. While that was happening, I started on the garlic butter and the rice.

Garlic Butter

Pour it into a small dipping bowl and top it off with some chili flakes, yeah, it tasted as good as it looks.

Once the rice was cooked, all that was left was to assemble and eat.

Twas a fairly quick and simple meal that was absolutely delicious. But not as delicious as the next method...

Ever had SHORE LUNCH???

No? Ok, so shore lunch is what it sounds like. Lunch on the shore. We would do this on most of our fishing trips up to Canada when I was younger. Catch your fish, pull up the boat to some random island, clean and filet the fish, batter it up and pan-fry it up over a camp fire.

Well, I'm not in Canada, nor a lake. I was in my kitchen. So this was the same method, but not nearly as cool, lol.

I started by getting my dredges set up. They include AP flour mixed with some spices, then an egg wash, and then Panko Bread Crumbs.

I pulled out all the pieces from that bag earlier and tossed them in the flour, and then the egg wash, and finally the bread crumbs.

Once the oil in the pan was nice and hot, it was time to start fryin'!

Now that they're cooked, they need to rest on a plate with paper towel to release some of the excess oil.

I was staring at these beautiful, golden little crispy fish nuggets and I just felt like something was missing..."what goes really well with fried fish???" oh ya! Tartar sauce and lemon!!! But I didn't have any tartar sauce. So I just decided to make my own!

Finely diced shallots:

I didn't have any pickles or pickle relish, so I used the next closest thing, capers! They worked really well actually.

Then of course the most important ingredient, mayo:

Damn I was impressed! Hit it with a squeeze of lemon juice and I couldn't believe I had just made my first homemade tartar sauce. I love trying new things and having them work out :)

Kid tested, Father approved!

Happy weekend and #FFF to all y'all! Make today a good one, Steem on!