We pan-fried trout, made mashed potatoes with celery root and roasted tomatoes the other night.
The trout and mashed potato recipe came from Donna Hay, and it could not be easier.
Bascially, she calls for rubbing the fish inside and out with a combination of salt and pepper and juniper berries. Since we didn't have any berries we decided to pour about two tablespoons of gin in the pan, along with some oil to saute the fish. We cooked it for about 5 minutes per side to allow it to cook through and brown. Our kitchen smelled like a fish pond, but the fish tasted delicious. I loved the flavor of a freshwater stream, and the texture of the fish was light, soft and tender.
For the mashed potatoes, we cooked the potatoes (only two small potatoes) in a cup of milk along with one chopped up celery root. After five minutes, we strained the potato/celery root mixture and "mashed" it in our food processor. They turned out very well mashed, and they were a nice base for the fish. I like the idea of cooking potatoes in milk, and I'm going to do that again in the future.
As for the tomatoes, I coated them in olive oil, sprinkled them with salt and pepper, threw in many sprigs of basil and roasted them for about 35 minute at 450 degrees. Let me just say that I can think of no better flavor combination. I love the way roasting tomatoes breaks them down and unleashes all their natural sweetness. The basil enhances the sweetness and brings out the full flavor of the tomatoes. I also love how roasting tomatoes causes them to lose all firmness and become a watery tomato slush. They were delicious.
It was a fantastic meal.
