Harry's Cheeks in Caps

Pickerel cheek in mushroom cap: ready to pop into your mouth

I love feeding people so I was more than happy to welcome our friend Harry over for supper, especially when he wanted to do some of the cooking. When I found out that he was going to make pickerel cheeks, well, that was extra special.

Pickerel cheeks are a bit of a delicacy. They are literally the cheeks of the pickerel - one of the most popular fish with anglers and commercial fishermen where I live in Manitoba. (Pickerel are also known as walleye in some parts of the world.) These cheeky morsels have been compared to scallops, but I think the cheeks are more tender. The trick to making this recipe might be in actually procuring the pickerel cheeks. Unless you catch a lot of pickerel yourself or have the pleasure of knowing someone who does, you’ll have to look for a commercial source. I found one source online selling two 2 ½ pound bags for $109.00 (!) and a few ads on Kijiji for a more reasonable $10 a pound. However you get them, pickerel cheeks are a tasty treat.

Harry served the cheeks and caps with ciabatta buns spread with garlic butter then lightly toasted. Of course, they would make a great appetizer, but we had them as part of dinner and rounded out the menu with a side of herbed wild rice, bacon cheddar tarts, and Barefoot carrot salad. It was a feast.

And now, with Harry’s kind permission, here’s the recipe for his pickerel cheeks and caps.

Harry’s Pickerel Cheeks in Caps

 

Harry places cheeks on caps

  Preheat oven to 400º F.

  ½ lb pickerel cheeks, fresh or thawed

  24 good-sized mushrooms, stems removed
  (Harry used brown   mushrooms)

  ¼ lb garlic butter, purchased or homemade

  Parmesan cheese

  Paprika

  In mini-muffin tins, place mushroom caps bottoms up.

  In each mushroom cap, place about a ½ tsp garlic butter
  covered with a single pickerel cheek.

  Over each and every stuffed mushroom, liberally sprinkle
  Parmesan cheese and paprika.

Pile on the Parm and paprika

  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until cheeks are cooked through and
  everything is nicely browned.

  Printable Recipe for Harry's Pickerel Cheeks in Caps

Our feast!