Tag Archives: walleye

Cheese, Eggs, Low carb, Seafood

Creamy Walleye Scramble, For One

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I may never eat scrambled eggs again without cream cheese!

Even though the fillets were small at less than 3 oz, each, two were too many for me, and three eggs was too much. Still, I persevered 😉

Creamy Walleye Scramble

  • Servings: 1
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

  • Walleye fillets—my fish, including both fillets, was 5.5 oz. 3-4 oz might be a more typical single serving.
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons cream cheese, at room temperature
  • butter and olive oil for sauteing
  • salt & pepper
  • optional: fresh or dried herbs, like dill or chives

Preparation

  1. I’m using two of my favorite pans for this dish—stainless steel for cooking and browning the fish and nonstick for making the omelet. That poor nonstick pan has suffered abuse and will need to be replaced soon ☹️
  2. Begin by cooking the fish.
    1. Heat a stainless steel or cast iron pan, because you want some nice browning, over medium-high heat.
    2. Add 2 tablespoons butter or a combination of butter and oil, and as soon as the butter has melted, place the seasoned fillets in and saute for about 5 minutes, until lightly browned. Turn the fillets and cook the other side.
    3. Set aside while making the eggs. You could loosely cover the fish in the pan with foil, but do not put a lid on and let it steam and get all watery.
  3. To make the eggs:
    1. Whisk 3 eggs in a medium bowl. Don’t be like me and try to pick the smallest bowl possible, so that your egg splashes over the sides.
    2. Whisk in the cream cheese until mostly incorporated. It really doesn’t matter if there are little bits left in it, because they will melt in the cooking.
    3. Heat a nonstick pan over medium to medium-high heat. When hot add 2 tablespoons butter (and a few drops of oil to prevent burning). Add the eggs and let them set for a few seconds. Season with salt and pepper and herbs, if using. Begin to lightly stir and fold with silicone spatula, just to move them around and prevent browning.
    4. Crumble in half your fish, continuing to stir and fold. Remove from heat while the eggs are still moist.
    5. Plate the eggs and crumble the rest of the fish over the top.

Low carb, Seafood, Soup

Thai Coconut Curry Walleye Stew

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Well, I would really call it soup, but my husband frowns at soup, so stew it is. Plus, he eats it over rice 🍛and I slurp it out of a bowl 🥣.

We have a freezer full of walleye currently, but it won’t last long enough. We love it in fish cakes, baked, or planked on the grill. I wanted something different and I already had some cans of coconut cream (unsweetened) in the cupboard, so a curry seemed like a good idea. I was already roasting some peppers for the week and had a package of cremini mushrooms in the refrigerator; all I needed was the ginger, lemongrass, and red curry paste. I used chicken stock, because I already had some, but you could certainly use a fish stock as the base. Should I be making stock with all the parts of the fish that are thrown away? 🤔

This soup was too easy to make, but I’m not complaining.

Thai Coconut Curry Walleye Stew

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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Add time to roast peppers, unless you already have a stash in the refrigerator.

Ingredients
  • Extra virgin olive oil for sauteing vegetables
  • 1 small onion, minced (you could use shallots for a milder flavor)
  • 8-10 oz sliced mushrooms (I used cremini, but shiitake would be pretty)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 tablespoons grated ginger
  • 1-2 tablespoons minced lemon grass
  • 2-3 teaspoons red curry paste (I used 2 but would use more next time)
  • 2 red or yellow or orange bell peppers, roasted, peeled, and sliced
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce (more or less depending on whether you can stand the smell)
  • 2 cups chicken stock or broth
  • 2 cans coconut cream—this is not a sweetened item; it is thicker and creamier than regular coconut milk
  • 1 lb walleye fillets cut in large chunks, about 1 1/2″
  • juice of one lime
Preparation
  1. In a large pot, heat about 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and mushrooms and cook until softened, but not browned. Season with salt and pepper.
  2. Stir in the ginger, lemon grass, and red curry paste.
  3. Add chicken stock, fish sauce, and bell peppers and simmer for about 10 minutes.
  4. Stir in coconut cream, bring to a simmer and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
  5. Add the walleye chunks and cook for about 5-7 minutes. Some of the chunks will flake; some will remain large.
  6. Stir in the lime juice.

Wonderful as a soup, or it could be served over rice for the carb eaters in the family.

Low carb, Seafood

Baked Walleye—Two Ways

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I’ve referenced this method before, but since I have cut out a lot of carbs in my diet (in an effort to keep my blood sugars low), I needed another way to crust the fish. I’m using Parmigiano Reggiano on my fillets, but my husband’s lactose intolerance means that he still gets the panko breading. I’m cooking a lot of dishes in two ways these days, and it’s not as hard as it might seem. I don’t want to make two completely different meals every day, so making meals that can be adapted for both our issues is easiest—he eats the rice and potatoes, I eat the cheeses and sour cream; we both eat the meat and vegetables. You’ll see that reflected in a number of new posts, although I won’t always show two ways of serving a dish, and I’m not changing the blog into any sort of a diet blog—I won’t always tell you when I’m not eating something.

I think I like the cheese coating better, as it turns out. If you do use the cheese, you might want to reduce the salt in the mayo marinade.

Baked Walleye—Two Ways

  • Servings: 2-3
  • Difficulty: easy
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Preheat oven to 425º; line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mayonnaise Marinade

For 6 fillets:

  • 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2-3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Take out 1/2 cup of marinade for 2 fillets and stir in 1 tablespoon Sriracha.

  • 2 cups panko breadcrumbs
  • 1-2 cups finely shredded Parmigiano Reggiano cheese ( I also put some larger shavings on the top of the fish before baking)
Preparation
  1. Lay out the fillets in a glass dish that will hold them without overlapping, spread the mayo mixture over each fillet, with the Sriracha blend on two of them. Turn and cover the other side. It’s messy, but it all works out.
  2. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
  3. After one hour, remove the fillets from the refrigerator to bread.
  4. Pour about 2 cups panko crumbs on a paper towel or in a large dish. Spread out about 1 cup finely shredded Parmesan on another paper towel.
  5. Carefully place fillets in crumbs or cheese, pressing the coating into the mayo all around. You can’t avoid breading your fingers, but don’t worry about the mess.
  6. Place each fillet on parchment-lined baking sheet. I use a meat fork to lift the fillets at this point and it helps keep the coating on the fish.
  7. Bake at 425° for about 10-15 minutes or until crumbs/cheese are browning.
  8. I put all the fish on one baking sheet and it was easy to keep the cheese and bread crumbs apart, but two smaller sheets could be used.

Grilling, Seafood

Beer-Planked Lake Erie Walleye

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Yes, I soaked the planks in beer.

We have a number of walleye in the freezer of different sizes, but I thought I would try the planks with the big 28″ one. I made a marinade with beer, but only marinated the fillets for an hour, because I didn’t want to significantly change the texture of the fish. It worked and they remained juicy and tender, with a slight taste of the cedar planks and a little smoke. I think you can tell which one we ate out of this bunch:

I would have used whatever beer was on hand, but it turned out that we have some Leinenkugel’s® Summer Shandy, which already has a lemon flavor. I added some lemon zest and juice, as well as some chives to the marinade, keeping it simple. The rest of the bottle of beer went into the soaking liquid, with water, to soak the cedar planks.

As you can see in the photo, I grilled some skewered zucchini over the coals while the fish were cooking. You can also see that using two planks in a kettle grill takes up a lot of space. I found that the two planks made it hard to keep the heat much above 300° and I would have preferred something around 375°-450°—next time, I’ll leave out the veggies and use some of the smaller fish. Still, it was pretty wonderful, juicy and tender.

Beer-Planked Lake Erie Walleye

  • Servings: 2 (maybe 3-4)
  • Difficulty: easy
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Marinade

  • 1/2 cup beer
  • zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 cup chopped chives
  • 1 tablespoon coarse salt
  • 1 teaspoon coarse-ground black pepper

Pour marinade over fillets in shallow glass dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour. Remove from the refrigerator when setting up the grill, so they come to room temperature. It takes about an hour for charcoal to be ready, but a gas grill would be much quicker.

Soaking the planks: Soak planks for at least an hour in a shallow dish with the remaining beer from the bottle and enough water to cover. Put something heavy on the planks to submerge them, like a big jar of peanut butter.

Grilling

  1. Set up charcoal grill with two zones—direct and indirect.
  2. When the coals are covered in white ash, place the planks (I needed two for my large fish) over the direct heat and close the lid until they begin to char and smoke.
  3. Flip them over and place on the indirect side. Place the marinated fillets on the charred side and close the lid. Cook for about 12-15 minutes or until the flesh is white and flaky. Cooking time depends on the size (thickness) of your fillets. Even though mine were long, they were not too thick, plus I cut each fillet in half to fit on the planks better.

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