Trout Fried with Oatmeal: The Breakfast Book

Here we are again, it's Cook the Book time. This chapter of Marian Cunningham's The Breakfast Book is all about breakfast meat. Somehow, I found a fish dish.

I've never made trout before. My favorite way to eat it is smoked on toast with mayo. The recipe I found calls for trout, but it's encrusted in oatmeal and then fried. All signs pointed to yes for me, so I gave it a try.

The flavor was great, the fish was moist. The almond milk I used added a little bit of nuttiness to the oatmeal, so it was all good. If I could just get past the smell of the fish itself, this would be one of my go-to breakfast dishes.

My mother always has something to say about how fishy fish can smell. I hadn't ever experience this level of fishiness-of-the-fish before. Whoa! I made this two times because the first time I made it, the smell turned me off so much, I was afraid to eat it. The second time, I made it as soon as I got it home from the market, but the smell was the same. I do have an extra sensitive nose, which may have contributed to my reaction.

You may have a different experience, so I ask you to please give this a try, and to let me know. I hope you enjoy the flavor as much as I did!

Check out the posts by my cook the book partners:  Rachel, Aimee, Emily and Claudie.

Trout Fried with Oatmeal

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup milk (I use Almond Milk)
• 2/3 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup shortening, or a combination of oil and butter
• 4 trout
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Lemon wedges

Method:

1. Pour the milk in a large deep plate and spread the oatmeal on a piece of waxed paper. If you want a finer-textured oatmeal than the flakes, whir the rolled oats in a food processor.
2. Put the shortening in a large skillet and heat it over high heat.
3. Dip each trout in the milk and then in the oatmeal, coating each side completely,
4. Put the trout in the hot shortening and turn the heat down to medium-high.
5. Salt and pepper hte trout and cook for 3 to 4 minutes; then turn the trout and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on the other side – don't overcook.
6. Remove from the pan and serve with lemon wedges.

Filet of Sole a la Joe

Last night, I made breaded filet of sole. Since my dad came up with this recipe, we refer to any preparation that involves breading fish or meat as "a-la-Joe". It's such a simple recipe that I make this on weeknights after work.

My daughter requested a gluten-full version, so I made it two ways. My gluten-free version was made by using Glutino brand bread crumbs, which are mostly corn. For this recipe, I don't love the corn, but they work really well for chicken and shrimp. Since I didn't have time to make my own crumbs from leftover rice bread, I used the Glutino ones, which turned out well.

There is an ongoing battle between Gran Fran and Joe as to whether or not you really need to soak the fish in oil before breading it. I think Joe is for the oil, Gran Fran is against. In my book, the more olive oil flavor you can get, the better, so I do soak mine. I'll let them weigh in here with their own opinions on the issue.

I have access to both Dover and Petrale sole out here on the West Coast. I'm not sure if there are other names for this kind of sole elsewhere in the country, but you can use this preparation for any kind of filet that is light in texture, I've used it on tilapia and red snapper before, too.  My daughter prefers the Petrale sole (fancy!), so that's usually what I go with.

This will be a great post-Thanksgiving light dish to serve, to fend off all those extra calories from those turkey legs you all ate.

Breaded Sole a-la-Joe

serves 4 as a main dish

 Ingredients:

• 2 pounds Petrale Sole (or Dover, or whatever filet you'd like to use)
• 1 cup bread crumbs (I use gluten-free for my portion)
• Olive Oil to cover the fish in a shallow pan
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup Dijon Mustard
• 1 tsp Capers, drained

Method:

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees, with a baking pan placed in the oven to heat up.
• Place fish filets into a shallow dish and cover with Olive Oil. Set aside for ten minutes.
• While the fish soaks, mix the mustard with the capers and some pepper.
• Place the breadcrumbs on a board or plate and dredge the fish filets through them to coat.
• Working quickly, remove the hot pan from the oven, take some of the fish soaking oil and coat the pan.
• Place filets on the pan and sprinkle some salt and pepper on them.
• Put the pan back in the oven and bake for about 8 minutes, until you see the crumbs start to brown.
• Serve with the mustard caper sauce.

Enjoy!