On Monday night our bowling league game was cancelled since the bowling alley was being used as a film set. Oh well, instead of an brisk bike ride to the lanes and all the resulting good times, I made due with cooking up a trout. Yup, a freakin’ whole fish…with gills, fins, eyeballs, creepy looking fish face and everything! Cornelius’ dad had fished the thing a while ago and it sat in the freezer for a bit before I worked up the courage to defrost it. Luckily, it was gutted and cleaned but I still had to contend with a fish and a face…but it was easier than I thought it would be. After rinsing it, I seasoned the thing with kosher salt, pepper and parsley and pan fried it in a little olive oil. I also made a caper-lemon-butter sauce (which is exactly as it sounds) to serve along with it and despite the evil look in that trout’s eyeballs, it was a tasty dinner.
Alongside, I served up my favorite braised cabbage recipe from Orangette. It’s a foolproof, delicious recipe that I’ve made many times and so perfect for these cool weather days. I also whipped up a plain green salad which looked like Christmas because of all the green and red! So pretty and tangy from the dressing made with bright green tarragon mustard. If you don’t have tarragon mustard, use dijon and some finely chopped herbs. Yum! And if that’s not enough vegetables, I had to use up some sad looking cauliflower found at the back of my fridge. I revived it with a recipe culled from epicurious and tampered with it, using what I had on hand. I’m sure it would have been great with anchovies and fresh parsley, but the resulting dish was pretty delicious as is.
green salad with tarragon dressing
1 head of romaine lettuce (or your favorite greens)
1 bunch of red radishes, sliced thin
1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil
1 T cider vinegar
1 T tarragon mustard
salt & pepper to taste1. Tear up, rinse and dry your greens. Add them to your salad bowl and scatter the radishes on top.
2. Mix up your dressing and taste, adding a little bit more of what you feel may be necessary. Pour over salad and toss.
warm cauliflower salad
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 t kosher salt
1 T drained bottled capers
2 T fresh lemon juice
1/4 t black pepper
1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets1. Steam cauliflower and set aside when it becomes crisp-tender, about 4-5 minutes.
2. Mix up dressing, mashing capers slightly with a fork. Pour over cauliflower, toss, and serve hot or cool.
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Well…the weather report indicates that we will be receiving our very first snow storm of the season…egads!!
Let’s talk food!
The warm cauliflower salad sounds yummy and who could resist 3 cloves of garlic in there…maybe I should add 5 cloves of garlic to ward off anything that might ail me 😀
When i was a kid, my mom would put a whole fish on my plate to eat – much the way it’s shown in your post – eyeballs, gills and tail intact…I remember making a big fuss about it and having to sit at the dinner table for 2 hours staring at the limp fish – refusing to eat it. Those days are long gone. Anything that lands on my plate these days goes quickly into my stomach, fishy eyeballs included…seriously 😀
What a wonderful menu!
I’m a sucker for fish and love cauliflower too!
This looks delightful! But I am really loving the photo of the gutted trout – it is gorgeous – is that weird? lol!
snow, joanne, that’s crazy…but also pretty. enjoy it! as for the cauliflower salad, it’s great and by all means, add as much garlic to keep the vampires away 😉
thanks, patricia. it all worked wonderfully together!
haha jen, i feel the same way about that trout photo!!