Broiled Trout with Lemon Cream Sauce
A Cook's Song
There's a faint gurgling as olive oil streams from the bottle and an even fainter tintinnabulation of oil striking the baking sheet. Paper rips when I open the package of trout and there's a slither as I drag the fillet through the oil, coating it. Then, rummaging in a drawer for herbs and spices, glass rattles on glass and wood.
Again paper rips. This time lighter and higher-pitched when I strip the outer skin from a shallot and a neat snick, snick, snick marks its transformation to a small dice.
A pan clangs as I pull it from a shelf and place it on the stove, the wine glugs into it, and the diced shallot makes tiny splashes when I add it to the wine. The lemon juice drips through my fingers into the pan accompanied by the liquid "splurge" of a lemon being crushed in my hand. Within minutes the pan is simmering and the happy notes of bursting bubbles forms an undercurrent to another metal on metal bang and rasp as I slide the trout under the broiler. Soon the kitchen is filled with snapping and popping from the oil beneath the fish.
My plastic spatula whispers against the pan as I stir in cream and butter into the sauce base, and foil crinkles as when I scoop up the fillet to deposit it on a plate. Dinner is served. "Mmmm…"
There's a faint gurgling as olive oil streams from the bottle and an even fainter tintinnabulation of oil striking the baking sheet. Paper rips when I open the package of trout and there's a slither as I drag the fillet through the oil, coating it. Then, rummaging in a drawer for herbs and spices, glass rattles on glass and wood.
Again paper rips. This time lighter and higher-pitched when I strip the outer skin from a shallot and a neat snick, snick, snick marks its transformation to a small dice.
A pan clangs as I pull it from a shelf and place it on the stove, the wine glugs into it, and the diced shallot makes tiny splashes when I add it to the wine. The lemon juice drips through my fingers into the pan accompanied by the liquid "splurge" of a lemon being crushed in my hand. Within minutes the pan is simmering and the happy notes of bursting bubbles forms an undercurrent to another metal on metal bang and rasp as I slide the trout under the broiler. Soon the kitchen is filled with snapping and popping from the oil beneath the fish.
My plastic spatula whispers against the pan as I stir in cream and butter into the sauce base, and foil crinkles as when I scoop up the fillet to deposit it on a plate. Dinner is served. "Mmmm…"
Broiled Trout with Lemon Cream Sauce
2 ea trout fillets
2 tbsp olive oil
Italian herb mix
Spanish paprika
1/2 c white wine
1 ea shallot, small -- finely chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 c heavy cream
1 1/2 tbsp butter
salt
white pepper
Turn on broiler and place rack in top position.
Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil, then brush both sides of fillets with olive oil, place skin-side down and sprinkle with Italian herb mix, paprika, and a bit of salt. Place in oven and cook for about 4 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat wine, lemon juice, and shallots in a small pan over medium-high heat. Reduce to about a tablespoon, add cream and continue cooking over medium-high heat for about a minute. Remove from heat and stir in butter, salt, and white pepper. Pour over fillets. Serves 2.
7 Comments:
You're a very noisy cook -- but after listening for a while it begins to sound like music...I've been looking for a way to work "tintinnabulation" into a post for a while -- very nicely done...and the fish looks delicious too! Nice job!
Stephen,
The sounds are fairly soft -- except for the pans -- you have to concentrate to hear them. And they're not all easy to describe, tintinnabulation is one oft he few that came easily.
I'd had my doubts about the sauce but is was surprisingly good.
This sounds really delicious to me, and in Utah there is good trout quite readily available. It's never been one of my favorite fishes, but I've been looking for a more intereting way to cook it, so I will try this. (Doesn't adding cream improve the flavor of nearly anything?)
This makes me hungry!!!
So .. a country & western song then?
Kalyn,
I love trout, but what really makes this dish is the wine, lemon juice, and shallot reduction with its hint of pepper. Oddly enough, the cream hardly seems to matter.
Chelle,
Then my work is done.
MM,
Nah, I think maybe something pop from the sixties.
...and there I was thinking something slightly techno-acoustic. Like music for "Stomp" toned down for when you have a headache.
I do variations on that sauce a lot. Because really, shallots, wine, lemon...sprinkle of fresh herbs...what could be wrong with that?
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