Thursday, September 22, 2011

Washington

I visited Seattle for the first time this past spring, and spent three days eating my way around the city. Not only is Seattle a great beer town, the variety and quality of the seafood is outstanding. We here in the Midwest have access to good catfish, walleye and other river dwellers but lack the overwhelming supply that you find on the coasts.

For our Washington dinner, we chose the state's official fish: the steelhead trout. Steelhead are a "migrating" variety of rainbow trout--meaning that they leave the ocean to spawn in fresh water. Unlike salmon, they don't die after spawning, but may return to salt water. The meat of the trout was a lot like salmon, fatty and a rich pink color.


Our substantial fillet got a simple olive oil, salt and pepper treatment before heading to the grill. The fish went on the hot grill, skin side down, and we didn't flip it; instead, we put the top on the grill and let it cook mostly through. This gave the skin a nice char and reduced the risk that the entire thing would fall apart if we tried to turn it over!

On the side, we used up some of our favorite CSA vegetables: dragon tongue beans and purple potatoes.

The dragon tongue beans are similar to a green bean in flavor, though a bit milder. When raw, they have these lovely purple stripes, which fade after a quick blanch.

We roasted the purple potatoes in a 425 degree oven for about 35 minutes. They cooked up nicely, crisp on the outside and tender inside. After they came out, I sprinkled them with chopped dill and lemon juice.

We also included our "impulse buy" of two salmon sausages from our local co-op. These were made with a blend of salmon varieties, with onion, bell pepper and lemon.


This dinner was a hit with everyone. Both kids like salmon sushi, and were happy to try a cooked version. It was also quick to prepare. This project has taught us a lot about food--but I think the best discovery so far has been that we all like fish!

Next stop: Kentucky

1 comment:

  1. THOSE BEANS look very interesting and good.

    ReplyDelete