This Central European classic dish is complements of my Mom & Dad, as they actually go fishing for pike, which is a vicious and strong fish with a torpedo-like shape and big, sharp teeth. It is fairly hard to fish, as it tends to fight as you try to get it ashore. I remember years ago my grandfather telling me that catching a pike is tricky and you gotta ‘tire’ it for hours in water before you get it out. Here in the United States it can be found in the Great Lakes and other larger lakes. However, I strongly suspect that in your case, a trip to a fishmonger or a grocery store would do.
If you can’t find pike, you can try substituting it with catfish or other flaky, low-fat, lean-meat white fish.
This dish itself embodies central European approach to making food – simplicity of ingredients and preparation methods, including the sour-cream sauce, widely used for cooking throughout eastern and Central Europe.
Ingredients:
4-5 pike fillets
4-5 potatoes cut into ½ inch round slices
1 large onion thinly sliced
white mushrooms – around ½ pound
¼ cup chicken or vegetable broth
6 ounces sour cream
bay leaf
salt & pepper, nutmeg
white wine
The Prep:
1. Cut potatoes into ½ inch slices and fry in olive oil or butter for about 10 minutes until half-done.
2. Sauté onions for a few minutes until translucent in a heavy sauté pan, then add mushrooms and cook together until mushrooms turn golden brown. Set aside.
Sour Cream Sauce:
Mix ¼ cup of any stock (vegetable or chicken broth) with 6 ounces of sour cream and simmer it until it gets thicker. Add nutmeg, bay leaf, pepper and pour a splash of dry white wine into the sauce.
The Fish:
An average-sized pike (5-6 pounds) should be cut into filleted pieces. Add salt and pepper, then fry the fish in vegetable oil until it gets a brown gold crust. Put the fish in the center of the baking pan (you can use ceramic or earthenware) and surround it with slightly fried potatoes cut in circular slices. Cover the fish with fried mushrooms and onions, and then drown the stuff with sour cream sauce with nutmeg. Bake the fish in the oven for 25 minute at 375-400 decrees.
