Since moving to Almost Canada my guy and I have not travelled down to the cities for Christmas. With the winter weather neither of us are too keen on driving the 325 miles back to our families. I’ve offered to host Christmas up here but no one has taken me up on it – go figure.
The past two years we have gone fishing on Christmas weekend. This year we decided to make it more of an event, an adventure if you will, and go up north. Well, further north. We took out the snowmobiles and drove across the lake up to the islands. We figured it was early enough with the fishing still being good on the south shore that no one would be up there. We were right. We had the entire place to ourselves.
The ride up was spectacular. It was a beautiful day outside & the trail was so smooth. It was very peaceful fishing with no one around & the fishing was great. We came home with 2 fish shy of our limit of good eaters.
At the end of the day when my guy was getting stuff ready to head back home I thought I had a monster of a walleye. It turned out to be an eel pout but it sure was fun pulling that guy up through the ice.
One of the things I love about fishing is being able to put dinner on the table with ridiculously fresh fish. I think we actually did a fish fry that evening with some of the fish but obviously we had more fish than we could eat in a single sitting. A few days later I made walleye cakes for lunch & served them with coleslaw.
Walleye Cakes (serves 2)
- 4 fillets (2 fish that were 12-15inches) previously cooked* with cajun/blackened seasoning
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tsp spicy brown mustard
- 2 green onions, chopped
- splash or two lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
- 1/2-1 tsp additional cajun seasoning or old bay seasoning
- 1/4-1/3 cup fine bread crumbs (guesstimate…I don’t actually know how much I added. Enough so that the mixture holds well)
- oil (for cooking walleye cakes)
*To cook the walleye, place the walleye on a baking sheet lined with foil & spray with cooking spray or lightly coat it in olive oil. Lightly season the fillets on both sides with blackened seasoning or cajun seasoning. Spray fillets with cooking spray or drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 400F depending on the size of the fillets until cooked through. Once cooked, place them in a medium mixing bowl in the fridge covered with plastic wrap to be used the next day or shred into chunks to be used immediately.
Cooking the Walleye Cakes: Shred the fillets if needed. Add all the ingredients except for the oil.
Mix the ingredients & form into patties (makes roughly 4-6 patties, 2-3 patties for each person).
Place a small amount of oil in a skillet over medium heat & cook the walleye cakes for about 3 minutes per side until golden brown & heated through. Place on a paper towel to drain off excess oil.
Serve with coleslaw or side of your choice. (I also like to drizzle my walleye cakes with asian chili sauce).
