Monday, March 31, 2008

Smoked trout, lemon and fennel pasta


This was a new pasta dish we tried out last night. Fantastic! Smoked salmon would work just as easily. The smoked trout was great but trout has a million tiny bones so it was a little labor intensive removing the bones. Here is the original recipe for 4 and then I'll note my additions at the end.

400 grams orecchiette pasta (this is about 1 lb.)
2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and finely sliced
1 T. olive oil
1 T. rinsed small capers
finely grated zest and juice of half a lemon
200 grams (about 1/2 lb.) hot-smoked trout fillets, deboned and flaked
handful of chopped flat leaf parsley

I added:
1/2 zuchini, quartered and cut into chunks
2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes, halved

Cook the pasta in large pot of boiling, salted water for 10-12 minutes. Drain and reserve some of the pasta cooking water.

While pasta is cooking, heat oil in a saute pan. Add fennel and cook slowly for 15 minutes until nicely carmelized. My addition: halfway through cooking the fennel throw in the zuchini and tomatoes. After 15 minutes the fennel should be nicely browned, the tomatoes broken down, and the zuchini nice and soft. Add the lemon zest, rinsed capers and fish. Heat through. Add the drained pasta. Toss well. Add the reserved lemon juice, to taste, and use a little of the pasta cooking water to loosen the sauce and bring it all together. Top with parsley and a little grated parmesan. Buona!

2 comments:

Mel said...

Your picture looks awesome! I don't think I've ever looked for smoked trout, but where would I find it? I'd probably wimp out and use salmon, but I'm just curious. Thanks.

Robin said...

Here in north Germany it's easier to find smoked or pickled fish than fresh fish so that is why I post so many with preserved fish. Here the grocery store has it's own counter of their preserved fish of the day but when I don't feel like dealing with the person behind the counter I can usually find some pre-packaged in the section where you find preserved meats/salamis/bolognas etc. If you like smoked fish you would really like this ... it was really light, fresh, and flavorful and it only takes a small bit of fish to flavor the whole dish.