I haven’t been cooking much lately. After about three months of social hiatus, there was a lot of catching up to do. When my parents were in town, I spent all my spare time with them. I think that is the least one can do for their parents, especially when they visit only once in a blue moon. Luckily all our friends are very understanding, and we could pick up right where we left off. Since most all of our social interactions are centered around food, be it going out with friends to restaurants, or going to someone’s house for a nice home-cooked treat, there is always food and drinks present. That means less cooking at home these past weeks.

Well, anyway we are almost caught up on the social front, and the cricket season is over too. Congratulations to Siv, whose team won the North West Cricket League championship, second year in a row under his captaincy. I think I’m more thrilled than he is, it is not like I’m a cricket fan, in fact I hate the game, but the last thing I wanted was to deal with a husband mopping around the house. Luckily all is well, and he is in seventh heaven.

The point of all this intro was the fact that I hope our lives get back into some sort of schedule from this week on. To start the new week right, I made another one of our quick fix weekday dinners - an easy breezy salad with a side of protein.

Today’s salad recipe is from Michael Chiarello’s Food Network show Easy Entertaining.  I chose this particular recipe, because the main ingredient in here is also the theme of this month’s AFAM -  Grapes. This salad uses both fresh grapes and raisins. The dried apricots and the raisins adds a rich sweet flavor to the salad, and along with the fresh grapes, the salad was the perfect accompaniment to my spicy pan-fried trout.

The original recipe called for radicchio and baby spinach. I used the pre packed European salad mix that contains radicchio, mache and frisée.   I also omitted the fried rosemary and prosciutto. Refer to the original recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_25831,00.html 

And here is my just slightly modified version.

Sicilian Harvest Salad

Ingredients

Method

Put the raisins in a small bowl and pour boiling water over them to cover. Let stand until plump and soft, about 10 minutes. Drain.

Put the raisins, grapes, apricots, rosemary and onion in a large bowl. Add the lemon juice and stir in the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the leaves to the dried fruit mixture and toss well.  Scatter the pine nuts over the top.

Lemon Garlic Trout

This one is completely my own recipe, and like all my recipes it is so easy it is even embarrassing to type it up. If you can’t find trout filets, ask the friendly guy at the seafood counter to filet the fresh trout for you, so you don’t need to waste time cleaning the fish.

Ingredients

Method

In a mortar, combine the garlic and pepper and crush to a coarse paste. Add the cayenne, salt, 1 tbsp olive oil and lemon juice and mix well to form a thick marinade.

Brush the marinade on the fish filets.

Heat the remaining oil in a grill pan and pan-fry the fish filets, about 4 minutes on each side.

Serve hot with a side salad.

 

The Sicilian Harvest Salad is my entry for AFAM - Grapes hosted by Swapna of Swad. A Fruit A Month event was started by Maheswari of Beyond the Usual.


Comments

32 Responses to “Lemon Garlic Trout with Sicilian Harvest Salad - A Quick Fix Dinner”

  1. Cinnamon on September 25th, 2007 6:16 am

    Yummm… The lemon Garlic trout looks so very delicious….
    Though I am not a big fan of salads… I loved the pic… :)

    Thanks Cinnamon… Salads are good for you girl

  2. Dee & Chai on September 25th, 2007 7:06 am

    hi sigma,
    love ur blog!am going 2 try this recipe soon…also,could u plz post some easy fish recipes that r low carb.
    p.s:will add u 2 my bloglist.

    Thanks :) Let me know how it goes… I will try and add more low carb seafood recipes

  3. Suganya on September 25th, 2007 7:25 am

    What is yr fridge saying, after your mom gone?

    Clean Me… :D

  4. sra on September 25th, 2007 7:36 am

    congrats to siv. did he get to watch the India-Pak 20-20 yesterday? your dish looks great as usual.

    I’m pretty sure he did… We don’t talk about sports, especially when he is not a participant in it ;)

  5. Latha Narasimhan on September 25th, 2007 8:26 am

    Colourful salad!

    Thanks Latha!

  6. Sia on September 25th, 2007 10:23 am

    congrats to siv:) although i am not a big cricket fan, i cant stop grinning since india won world cup;)

    Lol, so you are somewhat of a fan… oh and Siv says thanks

  7. Padmaja on September 25th, 2007 10:47 am

    Oh!! Sig i am a die hard fan of cricket so imagine how i was yesterday when india won, i was ecstatic and still is!!
    Congrats to Siv!! and what a nice lemony trout!!
    I love to have my Fish this way!!!
    great entry!!

    Ah…so u are a cricket nut… :) well, I am happy for all of you out there…. :D

  8. Anonymous on September 25th, 2007 11:13 am

    Congratulations to Siv and his team Sig. That trout looks lovely - it must taste really flavorful with just the basic ingredients garlic, lemon and pepper.

    Mamatha

    Thanks Mamatha… He says thanks… :D

  9. Asha on September 25th, 2007 11:51 am

    You got me drooling at the salad girl, beau-ti-ful!!:))

    Oh, you are not a seafood fan… :).

  10. Raaga on September 25th, 2007 12:06 pm

    lovely stuff… hey do you know that pine nuts cost 1600 bucks a kilo here!!

    Wow, thats expensive… but a kilo would last you a while though… :D

  11. Raaga on September 25th, 2007 12:07 pm

    and you are not fond of cricket
    join the club girl… Sachin used to play county cricket in Scotland and he got me for a wife!!

    lol, I know, poor guys… the wives don’t appreciate the talents! Anyway, now Siv understands that this is just one more thing he has to live with ;)

  12. Richa on September 25th, 2007 12:34 pm

    salad looks yum, loved the way u incorporated dried apricot into the salad, am all for it :)
    congrats to siv, so it’s going to be a double celebration i guess ;)

    Thanks Sweetie, I loved the apricot in it too… can’t take credit for it though, direct from food network… err…double celebration… I guess ;)

  13. Jyothi on September 25th, 2007 2:38 pm

    That looks fantastic and colorful. Great side dish salad. Yummy…thanks for sharing sia!

    Thanks Jyothi… of course you meant sig right ;)

  14. Happy cook on September 25th, 2007 2:39 pm

    Sig that is a very nice lemon trout. And the salade is beautiful. I could even see the shine from the olive oil.
    Hey so have you started missing your moms cooking :-))

    Thanks Happy Cook! Yeah, I do miss her cooking :(

  15. Pravs on September 25th, 2007 3:08 pm

    Looks soooo yummmy. Fish, anytime for me :) Hey me too am not a cricket fan. I thought i was the only one :) Congrats to siv !

    :) Looks like we are not the only ones pravs… we can start a club it seems

  16. Rina on September 25th, 2007 3:36 pm

    Wow!!!! this is a perfect complete meal.

    Thanks :)

  17. sunita on September 25th, 2007 3:41 pm

    oooh! Just my type of food! Absolutely gorgeous.

    Thanks :)

  18. sunita on September 25th, 2007 3:43 pm

    Oh, and congrats to Siv :)

    And he says Thanks too :)

  19. Rachna on September 25th, 2007 4:41 pm

    congrats to siv… and I loooove cricket (watching it that is)… loved the T20 final match!!!
    your salad pic is so well taken…i love the way you photograph sig

    Thanks Rachna, another fan, you can’t join my club :)

  20. Padma on September 25th, 2007 7:12 pm

    Trout looks fabulous Sig! and Congratulations to Siv and his team for the vistory. Hey you dont like cricket? Man yest we had a great match with Pak in T20 and we won!
    Pine nuts make all the difference and
    I love all your recipes, great job!

    You too Padma… whats up with all these hardcore cricket fans! I just don’t get it :)

  21. Rajitha on September 25th, 2007 7:42 pm

    that salad looks really good..i am going to make this..except the apricots..coz i have none ….aha! so hubby won the match…does he rave and talk about the winning match all day or does he respect ur dislike to the game (unlike the one i am here with ;)

    With enough training for the past decade, he learned to respect my hatred, I mean dislike for any kind of sports…. :D If he does ever bring it up, I start talking about the latest fashions, and then we are even ;)

  22. musical on September 25th, 2007 9:58 pm

    What gorgeous colors! You make even simple things like a salad look great! and congrats to Siv, his victory nicely coincides with Indian World Cup :).

    Thanks musie… :) I didn’t have to work much, the mixed salad leaves did the trick ;)

  23. Dee on September 25th, 2007 10:54 pm

    Love the salad Sig!I cant wait to try it !!

    Thanks dee, let me know if you try it

  24. Vcuisine on September 26th, 2007 5:28 am

    The salad is refreshing Sig, Viji

    Thanks Viji!

  25. Nags on September 26th, 2007 6:06 am

    Sig! this is so lovely. I love seafood and the trout looks delicious.

    i might pick out my fave veggies from the salad though :D

    So, veggie hater, eh? I guess you can skip the salad and just go for the trout directly… :)

  26. Sandeepa on September 26th, 2007 6:33 pm

    So Siv has a double win !!!
    That trout looks good and the sald too

    :) Thanks Sandeepa… Yep, double win, hopefully he will retire this year

  27. Sheela on September 26th, 2007 7:04 pm

    congrats, Siv!!

    am sure D will love this lemon trout - me being the ever-dutiful wife (read: kitchen-control-freak, as in, if I let D cook, I have to spend the next day putting things back in their shelves so it suits my cooking style), I cook stuff for him that I don’t even eat :)

    Me, I am sticking with the salad, it looks yummy!

    You are a control freak Sheela :D , anyway this is a very easy seafood recipe, and not messy either… no cleaning etc… so you can definitely try it..

  28. Cynthia on September 26th, 2007 8:09 pm

    Congrats to Siv and his team!

    A colour salad to go with a really nice white fish. I love trout.

    Thanks Cyn! I love trout too… it needs just minimal seasoning, fish itself is so tasty, and cooks fast too… :)

  29. Mishmash ! on September 26th, 2007 11:04 pm

    I am sure this fish tastes yum as it is somewhat similar to the pepper fish fry I make….the only difference is that I dont add cayenne pepper….great dinner :)

    Shn

    Oh yeah, I remember your droolworthy pepper fish fry pics… :)

  30. A kitchen scientist & a white rat hubby!!! on September 27th, 2007 7:32 am

    hi sig, the fish n sald lukkks just tooo great!!!

    Thanks! :)

  31. Susan on September 29th, 2007 10:14 am

    Congratulations to Siv! I don’t know the first thing about cricket, but way to go!! :) I love this salad too–bold flavors and cheerful colors. I’ll be trying it soon, Sig!

  32. Kaykat on October 1st, 2007 10:25 am

    The trout marinade sounds awesome, I’m not a big trout person (as yet), but this might be something I need to try out!

    Oh You must give trout another chance… it is one of my fav fish… :)

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