“As Good As It Gets” by Trevor Johnson of Kit’s Tackle
By angelamontana

Posted: November 9, 2013

Well for all the hunters like me, who have been outsmarted by the sneaky Wapiti…I have good news for the taste buds! Last night my wife and I had a dinner too good not to share with everybody. I don’t know about you, but if there is such thing as a bacon craze…I’m on the hog wagon!! I mixed together two of my favorite fares this glorious world has to offer…pig ribs and white fleshed finned torpedoes. We indulged in an amazing dinner of Northern Pike wrapped in peppered bacon over the grill coupled with olive oil and sea salt baked potatoes. Due to my wild tangy touch, I dreamed up the addition of spicy dill pickles to the recipe. As I’ve said a million times before…gosh darn it’s rewarding to spoil one’s self in game you harvested and prepared yourself. It’s just purely awesome…and DELICIOUS!!

Here’s the skinny: Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

  • -Baked Potatoes (2)
  • -salt
  • -olive oil
  • -Northern Pike Fillets (or other white meat fish, ie. walleye, bass, perch) cut in 4-6” strips about a half inch thick. About 2 pounds of fillets cut into strips.
  • -Bacon (I use the butcher cut and the peppered style.) 1-1.5 pounds.
  • -Beer (I use Miller High Life but I’m a filthy beast.) 1 chilled light beer.
  • -Spicy Dill Pickles (six or so is good.) OPTIONAL
  • -Paprika (whatever that is…my wife suggested this.)
  • -Thyme (this is all me…I love this stuff on fish.)
  • -Garlic Powder
  • -Salt (just kidding…this recipe is NOT low in sodium;))
  • -toothpicks

Directions:

POTATOES

Heat the oven to 350 and wash the baked potatoes thoroughly (we will be eating the skin.) Place baked potatoes on their own individual piece of heavy duty tin foil. Then drizzle a teaspoon of olive oil over the potato and rub in a few clicks of sea salt. Wrap the spuds up and place in the oven for one hour.

THE FISH

Place fish in mixing bowl and pour beer over the strips of fish (place in refrigerator for 1-2 hours.) Remove fish from beer and pat dry with paper towels. Slice the pickles into 1/4 inch pieces. Season the fish with the thyme, paprika and garlic powder. Place a pickle slice on the fish and roll the strips up like a sleeping pad and wrap a piece of bacon around it. Place one or two toothpicks through the entire roll to keep it held together. Place a piece of heavy duty foil on the BBQ and apply a thin lining of cooking spray. Arrange the rolls on the tin foil and cook over medium heat for about 6-8 minutes. This will nearly cook the fish, but the bacon will still need more time. I then remove the tin foil and place the rolls directly onto the grill. Stay attended to the rolls continuing to flip every thirty seconds or so until bacon is crisp and DELICIOUS! About 3 minutes and your bacon wrapped northern pike with a spicy dill kick is ready for the table.

Caution: the toothpicks will burn down so make sure to remove before consuming…it’s easy to get excited and forget (TRUST ME!!)

wapiti

(Written by Trevor Johnson of Kit’s Tackle)

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