Pickerel shore lunch with potatoes and tartar sauce
50 min · 47 g protein · 448 cals / serving
The northern Ontario and Manitoba fishing-trip lunch, brought home: pickerel (walleye) fillets in a crisp seasoned cornmeal crust, pan-fried golden, with skillet potatoes and onions and a chunky dill-pickle tartar sauce. A crunchy cabbage slaw makes it a plate.
Ingredients
Potatoes and onions
- 320 g (11 oz) small gold potatoes, sliced 5 mm (1/4 inch) thick
- 2 tsp canola oil
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 tsp salt
Tartar sauce
- 170 g (3/4 cup) nonfat Greek yogurt
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) chopped dill pickle pickles
- 1 tbsp capers, chopped
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Slaw
- 400 g (5 cups) shredded cabbage
- 1 large carrot, grated
- 4 tsp apple cider vinegar
Fish
- 800 g (1 3/4 lb) pickerel (walleye) fillets walleye, skin on, in serving pieces
- 45 ml (3 tbsp) cornmeal
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp canola oil, 1 tbsp per batch
To serve
- 1 lemon, in wedges
Steps
- Heat the oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add the potatoes in an even layer, cover and cook 10 minutes, turning once. Uncover, add the onion and salt and cook 10–12 minutes more, turning now and then, until the potatoes are tender and golden and the onions are soft and browned. Keep warm in a low oven.
- Stir together the tartar sauce ingredients. Toss the cabbage and carrot with the vinegar and a pinch of salt.
- Mix the cornmeal, flour, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper on a plate. Pat the fish dry and press both sides into the coating.
- Wipe out the skillet and fry the fish in two batches: heat 1 tbsp of the oil over medium-high heat, fry the fillets skin side down 3 minutes, then flip and cook 2 minutes more, until crisp and golden and they flake easily, 145°F. Add the second tablespoon of oil for the second batch.
- Serve the fish with the potatoes and onions, the slaw, a spoon of tartar sauce and lemon wedges.
Good to know
Pickerel or walleye?
The same fish: Canadians call it pickerel, Americans walleye. Perch, whitefish or haddock fillets take the same coating and timing.
How do I keep the coating on?
Pat the fillets really dry, press the coating on firmly, and do not move them for the first 2–3 minutes in the pan; they release by themselves once a crust forms.
Can I cook it over a campfire?
That is the original. Use a cast-iron pan over a steady bed of coals, potatoes first, then the fish in the same pan.
Per
- Calories
- 93
- Protein
- (44%)
- 10 g
- Fat
- (24%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (32%)
- 8 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 192 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1791 kcal goes into the pot and 2245 g of ingredients comes out as about 1920 g of food: 93 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.