Tuesday 12 August 2008

Spicy Trout... Waste Not, Want More!

The wine was poured, the curry was almost ready and the rice resting, when I spotted a pack of trout fillets in my fridge. I had bought them for the bargain price of £1 earlier that day - but had totally forgotten them!

After initially cursing myself at the waste - I decided to give myself 10 minutes to turn them into something to go with dinner. (After all, they had to be used that day and couldn't be frozen - I'd be as well trying!)

I remembered I had a courgette* left in the bottom of the fridge from the week before... would it be a pile of mush in the bottom of the veggie bag? Huzzah, it was as green and crisp as the day I bought it.

So... I chopped the trout into bite sized pieces, then tossed them in a mix of garam masala and chilli powder - rubbing it in a bit for maximum flavour. I put them to one side while the courgette was effectively (if not neatly) chopped into similarly sized chunks.

I heated a wee bit of ghee (or it may have been olive oil) in a heavy frying pan and threw in the courgette along with a good pinch of fenugreek leaves. After frying for a couple of minutes, a dollop of ginger/garlic paste followed it in (see I knew there was a reason I kept a jar of that stuff!)

Another minute passed then the trout went in. I fried them all together until the trout was just about cooked, then seasoned with salt and squeezed over the juice of half a lemon.

And y'know something - it was absolutely delicious! I think with a wee dod of yogurt, and this will be on my mid-week menu for some time to come!

Spicy Trout with Lemony Courgette


Less than 10 minutes from finding the trout - howzzat?!?

(edit) * courgette = zucchini! What? I am British, y'know ;)

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This looks wonderful. I love it when a spontaneous recipe comes together and works well like this.

Adam said...

They say the best ideas come together at the last minute... or that's just something I say :)

Thanks to Lore I learned what a courgette is... and yours looks delicious. Nice pair with the trout, which is a beautiful fish.

Unknown said...

i love finding goodies at the back/bottom of my fridge too! i havent tried courgette yet. will look for it soon :)

Dee said...

you work well under pressure :)

that's how most of my meals come about. tonight for example, i have some a lone zucchini and some chicken legs. inspiration better strike soon because it's 2 hours to dinner. tick tock.

Laura Paterson said...

me too, fk! Glad you like :)

adam - oops, maybe I should have said zucchini ;) Don't even get me started on bisuits/cookies/scones...

rita - I love finding stuff too... as long as I discover it before it turns to goo! ;)

dee - I've been trying hard recently to buy as I go - so I generally don't end up with random bits n' pieces in my fridge... I'd forgotten it can be fun ;)
ps. too late now - but I'm sure this would have worked with chicken too ;)

Unknown said...

What an amazing sounding recipe! Courgettes in season just now - getting mine from a friends greenhouse, so I guess I'll be picking up some trout to try it out. Betcha I have to pay more than a £1 though!!

Cynthia said...

Your are my kind of cook!

Heather said...

Yum, I love orzo. Trout sounds just perfect right now.

I have one zucchini plant and it is exploding! I've been picking them in baby form to keep up with all of them.

Admin said...

Looks wonderful...I am glad to have found your blog, my cooking is horrible, hope I learn something here:)

Thanks for stopping by:)