..: Walleye-palooza 2012 :.. Featuring Bacon, Vidalia Onions, Potato Chips & Mayo

I can't take credit for the title of this post; that flash of creativity comes from Parsley Sage of The Deep Dish and her comment on my last post when I announced we were headed for a week of fishing in Canada, catching, cooking and eating walleye every day, for seven days in a row.

She christened it Fishapalooza and I loved it.  And so it shall now be.

Fishapalooza 2012 was unlike any of our other 14 trips to Ontario. The weather was extremely mild, so unlike other years when we've had to pack parkas and long underwear for our annual end-of-May sojourn.

This year, we had weather in the 70's and 80's, which would have been great if we were headed for the beach. But the warmer than usual temperatures beckoned black flies and mosquitoes who are Rosemary aficionados.

Thanks to the Internet, however, we were able to outfit ourselves appropriately, though, with pretty reliable 10-day forecasts under our belts.  So instead of headbands and mittens, we packed bug spray, sunscreens and tank tops.  

And, I'm pleased to announce, yours truly caught the most fish in our little foursome.  That's really not bragging because Mr. Rosemary thinks it's high time I became a respectable fisherman, since I've been under his patient tutelage for many a year now.

And, with my sister-in-law Lori, have also become pretty creative at cooking the fish, too.  The men like to boast that we have seven different ways of cooking the fish.  That's pretty much true, although really they're just variations on the same theme:  

• Pat the fillets dry with paper towels. (remember they were swimming only three hours beforehand) with paper towels.
• Preheat the broiler.
• Line a broiler pan with foil, punching holes through the slots.  
• Spritz with vegetable spray.
• Sprinkle with dry seasoning of your choice.
• Dot with butter.
• Broil for 5 to 7 minutes.

We have grilled outside, too, but after a day on the water, we find the bug-free solace of the cabin comforting.

Here are some of the different ways we've seasoned the walleye:

• Cajun seasoning
• on a bed of sliced lemons
• Montreal steak seasoning
• marinated in a balsamic vinaigrette, then sprinkled with Romano cheese
• bathed in teriyaki sauce
• smothered with bacon and vidalia onions
• dipped in egg then mixture of seasoned bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese
• pan-fried in butter after a dip in egg then pancake mix

The bacon method has become one of everyone's favorites, but my personal fattening favorite (the fish is healthy eating, right?) is slathering mayo over the fillets and then pressing crushed potato chips over them.  (This is vacation!  And I worked hard for that fish!)

We have some pretty nice side dishes, too:  rice verde, pasta carbonera, haluski, fried potatoes with green pepper and onions, carrots in raspberry sauce, steamed sugar snap peas, roasted asparagus, cowboy salsa.  Good hearty eatin'.

Here's what one of our plates looked like:

Yeah, I know it looks bland, but stashing fresh parsley and food photography props with our gear wasn't part of the deal. Those potato chip crusted fillets were great.

I think I've had my fill of fish for a while, though.  A juicy hamburger along with a crisp salad sounds real good.