Trout in Red Wine with Chiles, Cocoa, and Hazelnuts

If you have a fisherman in the family, surely you’re familiar with cooking trout in lemon butter or simply grilling them over a campfire. In Northern Italy, where trout is plentiful, it is often cooked red wine with lemon, cloves, parsley and dill. In France, Trout Amandine, a preparation featuring lots of butter and toasted almonds, is king. In Mexico, fresh trout are grilled with chiles, garlic, and lemon or lime juice.

Unable to decide which of these three traditional preparations I wanted to use on some fresh rainbow trout I scored at Mercato del Mare, I decided not to make a decision, but to whip together a recipe combining all three recipes. Cooked in red wine, topped with toasted hazelnuts, and simmered with chiles, garlic, and a bit of unsweetened cocoa, which adds depth to this dish just as it does in traditional Mexican molé sauce, you get to experience the best of three very different trout dishes!

Trout in Red Wine with Chiles, Cocoa, and Hazelnuts

For the trout:
2 whole trout, cleaned
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup / 235 mL red wine vinegar

For the sauce:
2 slices streaky bacon, chopped
1 tablespoon / 15 g butter
1 large shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 dried chiles, crushed
2 bay leaves
A few sprigs fresh thyme
1 cup / 235 mL dry red wine, such as Chianti or Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
Juice and rind of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon / 5 g unsweetened cocoa powder*

To serve:
Handful minced flat-leaf parsley
¼ cup / 60 g toasted hazelnuts
2 tablespoons / 30 g. minced pea shoots
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Hazelnut oil*


First, place the trout in a glass or ceramic dish. Pour in the wine and minced garlic, shake, and set aside to marinate for a half hour.

While the trout is marinating, prepare the sauce. Using a heavy-bottomed pot large enough to fit both trout, heat the butter over medium-high heat, then add the bacon. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until the bacon begins to crisp, then add the shallot, garlic, and chiles and continue to cook until the shallot begins to soften. Add the bay leaves, thyme, red wine, lemon juice and rind, and cocoa powder. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently to loosen up any browned bits of bacon at the bottom of the pot.

While the wine sauce is cooking, remove the trout from the vinegar and discard the vinegar and garlic. Place the trout in the pot with the wine sauce, shake the pan a bit to distribute the sauce over the trout, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered, for 15-20 minutes, or until the trout flakes easily.

While the trout is cooking, combine the parsley, hazelnuts, pea shoots, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

To serve, use a fish spatula to transfer each trout to a warmed plate. Sprinkle the inside of each trout with the parsley/hazelnut/pea shoot mixture, and sprinkle on top as well. Drizzle each trout with hazelnut oil, and serve piping hot alongside roasted potatoes.

* To purchase ingredients used in this recipe, click the link(s) below:

Scharffen Berger Cocoa Powder (Google Affiliate Ad)

La Tourangelle Roasted Hazelnut Oil (Google Affiliate Ad)

Nutritional information: serves two. 711 calories, 25 g fat, 10 g carbohydrates, 45 g protein.

Make Room for Mexican!

Even since I purchased my Spanish and Mexican cookbooks, I've had culinary tunnel vision.  But when I wind up cooking dinners like the one I made, I can't bring myself to think it's a bad thing!  Using a few simple, fresh ingredients, you can whip up a delicious Mexican feast in next to no time.  Most of the ingredients are easy to find, but you may have to search to find chayotes, which are a squash variety native to central America.  If you cannot locate chayote, substitute yellow summer squash.  Serve with seasoned rice.

Baked Snapper
juice of 1 lime
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 t. dried oregano
2 whole snapper, cleaned*

Preheat the oven to 350. In a small bowl, combine the lime juice, garlic, and oregano. Now, make shallow incisions in the bodies of the fish on each side.  Place the fish in a baking dish large enough to accomodate both fish without them touching, then pour the lime juice blend into the fish's cavities and rub into the incisions, as shown in the photo.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.  Serve with Veracruz salsa.   

* You can also use fillets of firm whitefish, such as cod or tilapia, if you don't want to use whole fish.  If the fillets are less than 1 inch thick, reduce cooking time to 20 minutes. 

Veracruz Salsa
generous splash olive oil
2 fresh serrano chiles
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 bay leaves
2 shallots, sliced into thin strips
4 tomatoes, diced
1/2 c. picked jalapenos
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1 cup green pimiento-stuffed olives
generous grind fresh black pepper
salt to taste

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the chiles, garlic, bay leaves, and shallots, and cook until the shallot has softened, stirring intermittently.  Next, add the tomatoes, jalapenos, and cinnamon.  Cook for about 10-15 minutes, or until the tomatoes are no longer firm.  Now, add the olives and salt and pepper, and cook just until the olives are heated through.  Serve over baked fish.  This is also delicious added to rice.  　

Chayote Salad
2 chayotes, peeled and halved
2 tomatoes, diced
1 shallot, sliced into thin strips
3 T. olive oil
3 T. white wine vinegar
1 t. dijon mustard
1 t. anise seeds
salt and finely ground black pepper to taste

Boil the chayotes for 5-10 minutes, until the flesh has softened up a bit.  Let cool, then dice.  Combine the diced chayote and all remaining ingredients in a large glass bowl.  Serve cold.  　

Stinging Margaritas　
1/2 cup tequila
1 cup Simply Limeade
splash Triple Sec
1 serrano chile, halved
kosher salt mixed with a dusting of cayenne, to rim glasses

Combine all ingredients except salt in a cocktail shaker with a few ice cubes.  Shake for 30 seconds, then pour into margarita glasses rimmed with the spiced salt.  Recipe serves two. 

Ingredient Spotlight - Cactus Pads (Nopales)

Artichokes.  Asparagus.  Fresh peas.  I doubt many of my fellow New Englanders would add cactus to this list of veggies we associate with spring, but if we lived in Mexico, we might change our tune.  Cactus pads, or nopales, are grown and sold in Mexico and are at their best in the spring, but they are neither common nor easy to find in the U.S., especially the northern U.S.  This is unfortunate.  If you ever see nopales at the market, do yourself a favor and pick up a few.  Just be careful picking them up - after all, they ARE cactii, and they WILL stab you. 


Preparing nopales is a pain in the you-know-what (and the hands, if you're careless), but I'm willing to put up with a little aggravation in order to experience new tastes and textures.  I found that nopales taste like a cross between a green bean and an artichoke, with the texture of cold Chinese-style jellyfish...wait, what?  OK, I guess I could compare it to just-barely-cooked calamari...but the jellyfish comparison is far more accurate, so if you haven't tried jellyfish, get on that!  Anyway, to prepare fresh nopales, simply trim the edges and slice off the spines using a small, sharp paring knife, then slice into bite-sized pieces, boil in salted water for about 10-15 minutes, and use in recipes of your choice.  I've included two refreshing recipes below!

Nopales Salsa

1 lb. nopales, prepared as described above*
1/2 red onion, minced
1 cup canned tomatillos, drained and chopped
2 fresh serrano chiles, minced
1 t. dried oregano
juice of 1 lime
splash olive oil
handful chopped cilantro
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a glass bowl.  Chill at least 24 hours to let the flavors blend, then serve as desired.

* If you cannot find fresh nopales, prepared nopales in a jar can be purchased online. 

Individual Rice Bowls with Nopales Salsa

1 cup cooked rice, seasoned with Goya Adobo
1/2 c. shredded grilled chicken (you can also use pork, steak, or shrimp)
1/2 c. nopales salsa
avocado slices, to serve
sour cream, to serve
lime wedges, to serve

In a shallow bowl, place the rice, chicken and nopales salsa alongside each other.  Garnish with the avocado slices, sour cream, and lime wedges.

Rice & Beans - Global Comfort Food

Rice and beans. Beans and rice. Tomato, tomaahto. Every Spanish-speaking country has its own variation of this staple dish, and there are many, many nuances - with or without meat, black beans vs. red beans, with or without coconut, side by side vs. mixed together. Some recipes carry more symbolism than others - for instance, the Cuban version uses black beans with white rice and is called "Moros y Cristianos," a name referring to the battles between the Moors and the Christians in Spain.  Although true rice and beans is a Hispanic/Latino specialty, other cultures create their own variations - lentils and rice are served in the mideast and in India and Pakistan, and Italians enjoy "risi e bisi," which is risotto with peas.

Cultural traditions aside, rice and beans is one of the most nutritionally sound dishes you can serve. The ingredients are inexpensive, easy to come by, and easy to store, and the preparation couldn't be much simpler. This was one of my "broke college kid" staples, but even though I can afford more expensive food now, I still go back to this dish because it's comfort food. Try my version or play around with your own variation of this dish!

Rice & Beans1 T. bacon fat

1 small onion, diced

1 lb. chorizo, sliced into bite-sized pieces

2 jalapenos, diced (or 1 green bell pepper if you prefer a milder flavor)

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 can pigeon peas

2 t. cumin seeds, toasted

2 t. Goya Adobo seasoning (I like the variety with bitter orange)

1 t. oregano

1/3 cup chicken broth

2 cups hot cooked rice, seasoned with 1 packet Goya Sazon

salt and pepper to taste

handful chopped cilantro

sour cream, to serve

In a large, heavy-bottomed pan, fry the onion and chorizo in the melted bacon fat over medium heat until the onions have softened. Next, add the jalapenos, red pepper, pigeon peas, cumin, Adobo, oregano, and chicken broth. Mix well and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the chicken broth is fully evaporated. Now, add the rice, salt, pepper, and cilantro. Stir until the rice is fully incorporated, then serve in bowls with a dollop of sour cream.