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!

Homey & Elegant Wild Rice Casserole

Wild Rice Casserole 

This is a casserole I've been making for many years. It brings together wild rice and mushrooms in a way that is at once homey and elegant. It's a favourite with our family and makes any meal a special occasion.

The original recipe comes from a 16-page, type-written handout from the Minnesota Paddy Wild Rice Research and Promotion Council. I don't remember how I came to get it. The introduction to the recipes explains that, in 1981, the Council brought together a small group of food editors from national magazines "for two days of seeing and learning about wild rice." This included "a comprehensive wild rice preparation workshop in the kitchen of Beatrice Ojakangas where they spent a morning cooking wild rice and sat down to what was described as 'probably the largest all-wild rice meal ever prepared in Minnesota!'"

The recipe here is my own spin on one of Beatrice Ojakangas' recipes. If you'd like to know more about this renowned chef and cookbook author and check out some of her more recent recipes, visit beatrice-ojakangas.com.

MA's Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lining up ingredients

2/3 cup uncooked wild rice

2 cups water

½ tsp salt

½ lb fresh mushrooms, sliced

½ cup butter

¼ cup flour

1 tsp salt

½ tsp dried marjoram leaves

½ tsp dried thyme leaves

2 cups milk

3 tbsp dry sherry or port

¼ cup (about 8 crackers) crushed soda crackers

2 tbsp butter, melted

Sprinkle flour mixture over mushrooms

Wash wild rice in three changes of hot tap water. Place the wild rice, water and ½ tsp salt into saucepan. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 to 40 minutes or until wild rice is tender. Drain any excess water.

In a large fry pan, sauté mushrooms in butter over low heat about 5 minutes or until mushrooms are soft.

Mix together flour, salt, marjoram and thyme. Sprinkle mixture over mushrooms, then stir until mushrooms are coated.

Stir in milk. Bring mixture to boil and then reduce heat to low. Cook until thickened, stirring frequently.

Add sherry or port.

Add cooked wild rice to pan and stir well with love.

Butter a 2-quart casserole dish. Place rice/mushroom mixture into dish.

Mix together cracker crumbs and melted butter. Sprinkle over casserole.

Bake uncovered 30 minutes.

For Future Enjoyment: Let casserole cool. Cover tightly with casserole lid or plastic wrap. Label and place in freezer for up to one month. To reheat from frozen, remove from wrap/container. Place in 375° F. oven and heat until warmed through, 35-45 minutes. If thawed, warm through for about 20 minutes. Serve while warm.

Printable Recipe for MA's Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole