Canadian Rockies Lake Trout

I have never blogged about my own cooking up to this point. Frankly due to the fact that I'm not that good a cook. Mind you, I know my way around the kitchen, can follow recipes reasonably well, and am getting pretty good with my smoker. However, I haven't developed an ability to pair flavors together yet to a point where I'd consider myself a good cook. My wife is a better cook than I am and although I don't admit it to her very often (she'll be chuckling the first time she reads this post), I do learn from her when she's cooking as we explore new foods and flavors (her making and me eating).

On our vacation this summer, my son, my father-in-law, and I took a guided fishing trip for half a day on Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park. We were fishing for lake trout. Lake Minnewanka is supposed to be one of the top 10 lake trout lakes in all of Canada. The record fish taken from this lake weighed in at a whopping 50 pounds!

We had a fun day on the water although the fishing was not as good as we'd hoped. However, I did catch two fish good enough to keep and they actually fed all seven of us for dinner. My son caught a small one that he threw back and unfortunately my father-in-law didn't get a bite at all.

The pictures below are the "before and after" showing the fish and then how I prepared them for dinner. The larger fish was about 4 lbs and the smaller in the 2 lb range.

To cook them, I simply grilled them on a gas grill on low heat for about 15 minutes. I made a tin foil baking pan and then squeezed lemon and lime juice on them, added a small amount of onion &garlic powder seasoning, cracked pepper, salt, and then topped them with slices of lemon and lime, a couple dollops of butter on each filet, and finished them off with fresh dill.

The fish were delicious. Light, flaky, and very tasty. Certainly an easy recipe I'll make again. We served the fish with garlic butter red skinned potatoes baked in the oven and paired the meal with a rose that balanced the citrus flavor in the fish nicely and the garlic in the potatoes as well.

Before


After

Grizzly House Restaurant, Banff


In 2003, Cindee and I were in Banff to support a friend who was working on his Ph.D. and presenting at a conference. We came up, ostensibly, to attend his presentation to provide moral support. Truth be told, a long weekend in Banff to see the mountains and take in some skiing at Sunshine Village was certainly a contributing factor in our decision to come up. Although as it turned out, I was the only one to go skiing as Cindee was pregnant with Aedan and wasn't able to ski.

During our trip, we had dinner at a steak and fondue restaurant in Banff called The Grizzly House. We had no idea what to expect but the name sounded fun and fondue harkens back to the disco era of the 70's. We had a fantastic meal and a wonderful experience and vowed the next time we were in Banff we'd eat there again.

So, now in 2009 as we're enjoying our family vacation in the Canadian Rockies, we had The Grizzly House on our list of places to eat. We went last night and had an equally great evening in a very unique restaurant. This time, however, I took pictures. Among our group last night, we had the Hunter Fondue Bourguignonne, Exotic Fondue, Fondue Bourguignonne, and Seafood Fondue.

We had no room for dessert after this meal. Although the last time we were here we had the dessert fondue with melted Toblerone and fresh fruit.

All in all a great dining experience, fun with food as you cook on the stones, and a place you'll definitely want to check out if you have the chance to visit Banff.


A rustic, hunting lodge design to the restaurant.

Appetizer was a cheese fondue made up of swiss, emmenthal, and gruyere.

The sauces made for a nice array of flavors for the various meats.

The Exotic Fondue
(kangaroo, ostrich, rattlesnake, frog legs, buffalo, venison)

Cooking on 650 degree stones was great fun.

Excellent German Pinot Noir

When I think of German wines, Pinot Noir is not usually the varietal that immediately comes to mind. But, a local wine store which we really like (The Crushed Grape) had a German Pinot Noir that I had purchased last year some time and really liked. When Cindee and I visited them recently, I remembered the wine and was able to buy their last two bottles. I'm hopeful they'll have more next time I'm in there.

In the meantime, if you're able to find it, I'd highly recommend picking up a bottle. You'll really enjoy it and I'm sure you'll look twice at the bottle to make sure it really does come from Germany.

Wine: 2005 Hans Lang Pinot Noir
Country: Germany
Region: Rheingau
Tasting Note from Cellar Tracker: Medium ruby color with a strong edge of cranberry...raspberry and cherry on the nose with a little baking spice. Very easy entry and medium fruit grip at mid palate with a very light sense of fruit sweetness underneath with a very light acidic counterpoint...demure and elegant.