Challenge Accepted! Make a trip to the farmer's market without looking up recipes ahead of time. Purchase meat that still has it's face in addition to a vegetable and a fruit that you have never eaten before. Prepare a meal from said purchases. This challenge was not extended to me, however I was invited along for the journey. The resulting meal was quite tasty, although I am not sure I will ever cook it the same way again.
Yet again I am lacking pictures of my culinary adventures. I sincerely apologize for that, but I should be able to make it up to you when my co-chef posts about his challenge.
We were smart enough to have the farmer's market friendly employees clean our fish and remove the head for us. Technically when we bought it the head was still on, just not when we took it out of the market. This left the very interesting task of filleting the fish to us. Dear reader, please hear me when I tell you that there is a reason the world has butchers. That reason is so that someone can do this task for you. I am glad that we undertook this assignment purely for the fact that I learned the lesson that just because you can do something does not mean that it is worth it. We found some youtube videos and other internet instructions for filleting a fish and tried to follow them. It is difficult work, especially if you do not have a boning knife. Once you get the fillets cut off of the fish, then you have the super fun task of pulling out all of the tiny little bones. I recommend needle nose pliers or tweezers for this task. Getting the fish ready is definitely labor intensive, get someone else to do it unless you plan on roasting the fish whole.
Once you do remove your fish meat from the bones, the fun can begin. We saute'd the fillets in a lemon chive butter. It cooks very quickly, but the resulting dish is tender and delicious. In addition to the trout we made ginger garlic bok choy. If you have never had bok choy then please please try this. It is like a cross between spinach and cabbage and the texture is wonderful. I got thess recipes from the food network, but I modified it slightly so that the flavor profile would meld together.
Lemon Chive Trout with Ginger Garlic Bok Choy
Ingredients
2 lemons
5 Cloves of Garlic
1.5 Inch of Ginger
Bunch of Chives
1 Scallion
1 Head of Bok Choy
4 Trout Fillets
4 Tablespoons of Butter
2 Tablespoons of soy sauce
Grate the ginger
Grate the garlic
Chop the chives
Dice the scallions
Zest the Lemons
Mix all of these togther and separate into two prep bowls. Into one prep bowl juice one of the lemons and then mix in 3 tablespoons of the butter, place this one in the fridge. Set the other one aside.
Roughly chop the bok choy, stopping about 2 inches from the core. Season the fish with salt and pepper. In a large skillet (we used a wok), heat a little bit of olive oil and then saute your ingredients in the set aside prep bowl. After 2 minutes add the bok choy and toss. Then add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and let it cook while you prepare the fish. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn. In another skillet place your remaining butter and a scoop of your combined butter (save some to top the cooked fish with). Cook the fish for about 3-4 minutes on each side. Flip with two spatulas, not tongs. When done transfer to aplate, top with dots of your combined butter and a squeeze of lemon from your extra lemon.
Happy Dining!
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