Smoked Trout and Wheat Berry Salad

This is a great summer salad that (if you precook the wheat berries) involves no cooking whatsoever, so it's perfect for nights when it's simply too hot to be in the kitchen. I used smoked trout from Verbrugge's in Oakland; they smoke it themselves and it's not as salty as what you normally find. If you're using particularly salty trout, some croutons might be nice to cut the salt. I use Castelvetrano olives because they are particularly mild, but you would want something more pronounced if your fish is stronger in smokiness or saltiness.

You'll need (serves 3):

1 smoked trout, about 1lb

6 large leaves of red leaf lettuce, cut into small pieces

1c wheat berries

1/4c tahini

juice & zest of 1-2 lemons

1T olive oil

1/4c Castelvetrano olives

1/2 red onion

Cook 1c wheat berries in 3c water & 1t salt until tender (they'll still be al dente), about 1 1/2 hours. Drain, toss with olive oil, and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, beat tahini with lemon juice and zest. If the mixture gets too thick, add some hot water to thin. It should be thick like soft-serve ice cream.

Toss wheat berries in tahini mixture. Mince red onion and add to wheat berries. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Arrange lettuce on plates and place a scoop of wheat berry salad in the center. Surround with trout and olives. Serve with bread.

Vegetarian version: dress salad with roasted eggplant instead of trout.

A Shabbat Feast

This feast, generously subsidized by Birthright, was a wonderful opportunity to make something I normally cannot afford: veal shoulder. This beautiful five pound roast is stuffed with herbs and garlic, rolled in porcini dust, and cooked slowly in my homemade chicken stock, red wine, and tomato paste, with some marrow-filled veal bones tossed in to beef up the sauce.

the herb & garlic stuffing

the bones & the roast

adding liquids

After cooking, you refrigerate the roast overnight, scrape off all the fat, carve the meat and reduce the sauce, sneaking a bite of marrow on toast as you remove the bones. I adapted my recipe from Epicurious's, adjusting things like the balsamic and porcini (I added more).

I served this with a barley and roasted vegetable pilaf-- I roasted the butternut squash and parsnips with balsamic vinegar and fresh thyme, separately so each cube would get creamy on the inside and caramelized on the outside...

combined in one pan for easy cooling

...then tossed them with the cooled cooked barley, reheated the pot, and added lemon zest, toasted almonds and mint.

As an appetizer, I made a salad of arugula, julienned apple & celeriac (celery root) soaked in lemon juice & olive oil, smoked trout, warm goat cheese and spicy-sweet walnuts with a dill-pomegranate (thanks Maia!) cream dressing.

J, of the Green Kitchen next door, made dessert: dried cherries soaked in reduced sour cherry juice, served over Haagen Daaz vanilla ice cream with Chessman cookies.

Steelhead Trout with Tarragon Pepper Sauce

Tarragon is a fantastic herb. It tastes great and holds up to (and combines with) many other flavors. It's also delicious on its own, suspended in cream or butter. Here, I've matched it here with the bite of Szechwan pepper and tang of lemon juice. I used steelhead because it looked good in the store, but this recipe would work well with salmon too.


You'll need (this makes enough sauce for 2 people):

1 center-cut filet of fish per person
2T chopped fresh tarragon
3T butter
1t ground Szechwan pepper
1t lemon juice (from 1/2 a lemon)

Heat a small pan. Melt 2 T butter. Add tarragon and pepper. Turn off heat.

Rub fish with olive oil, salt and pepper. Heat a pan. Place fish, skin-side down, on hot pan. Cook 3-4 minutes; turn and cook 2-3 minutes on the other side.

Make sure butter is still hot. If not, reheat, then turn heat off. Stir in lemon juice. Vigorously stir in the last tablespoon of butter until sauce is creamy. Spoon sauce over fish.

Serve with mushroom barley (above),
warm bean salad or grain pilaf.

*Mushroom barley is easy-- just chop a bunch of mushrooms (I used shittake), saute in olive oil & butter, and add spices (I used dried oregano & savory). When mushrooms begin to brown, add 1c pearl barley & 3c chicken or veggie broth. Bring to a boil; lower to a simmer, cover and cook until liquid is absorbed, about 40 minutes.

Steelhead Trout, Roasted Broccoli, and Barley

I haven't been in a blogging mood lately, but here's a pretty picture to hold you over.

Trout Three Ways with Orzo and Brussel Sprout-Carrot Hash

Trout is cheap (ours was $5/lb at Andronico's) and super easy to cook. It'll take on any flavor you want, and the bones are so small that even if you leave them in, they won't bother you. You can also buy pre-boned trout, or trout fillets. I think the whole fish is more flavorful, and the heads make a great fish stock, or fumet.

The trout was already gutted and scaled; we just stuffed it with some basic ingredients, wrapped each fish individually in parchment paper, and baked it at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

The trouts:

1. dark soy sauce; chili-garlic sauce; fresh ginger
2. salt & pepper; dried marjoram; olive oil; fresh thyme
3. salt & pepper; cayenne pepper; cajun spice; dried oregano; olive oil; fresh rosemary

For the orzo, just cook it like pasta, and mix in some butter, parmesan, and pepper.

For the brussel sprout hash:


Slice the bottoms off the sprouts. Cut each sprout in half, and then in slices, lengthwise (so the "stem" part holds the leaves together). Toss in a bowl with lemon juice to keep from discoloring. Julienne 2 carrots and mix with the sprouts. Heat butter and olive oil in skillet and, when butter melts and foaming subsides, add brussel sprouts, carrots, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until sprouts are tender and start to brown. Serve with lemon wedges.