Pan fried Rainbow Trout and crispy Prosciutto salad

Winter feels like it's gone on forever, and whilst I like meat, spuds and gravy as much as the next hot blooded Northerner, it can become a little boring after a few months...

As such I decided to get some fresh fish and make a warm salad for dinner, something light and crisp, yet filling, with some carbs hiding in there somewhere to fill the gaps.

This dish ended up as a riff on the Niçoise I made previously, but with a huge fillet of crispy skinned Rainbow Trout and crisped Proscuitto in the place of the anchovies.

I won't repeat the directions I went in to some detail on here, but basically, blanch your spuds and green beans then refresh in ice water, boil your eggs for 6 minutes and leave to cool.

Then here's the twist; get a large pan and heat a little olive oil, then flash fry some super thin slices of prosciutto until they crisp up (it'll take no time at all) and remove on to kitchen paper to drain. In the same pan fry your fish skin-side down in the hammy flavoured oil for about 4 mins or until crispy. Turn over and cook for another minute.

Serve the salad with the fish on top (this is why you need a chunky lettuce like Cos which can handle a little warmth without whimping out) and a spritzy, acidic dressing that'll cut through the richness of the fish.

I had this with a classic Yorkshire blonde. Golden Pippin from Copper Dragon brewery. It's a quaffable, lemony, slightly sweet ale which works great with the snappy dressing but doesn't overpower the delicate flavour of the fish. It's an easy going, lazy kind of match but it works a treat.

If you fancy going for something a little more challenging beer match-wise then... I'd be interested to see what the Schlenkerla Helles would be like with this. It's not a smoked beer, but because it's brewed on the same setup as the other smoked Schlenkerla beers it's got a faint hint of smoke lingering in the background which would be great with the bacon, but not too full flavoured as to bulldozer that fish.

I think it'd be great, I'll let you know if I try it.

2 comments:

  1. Very nice - and nice pic, too! agree re: the helles but CD GP is perfect too - it needn't be fussy!

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  2. The Golden Pippin worked great, just thought I'd share my idea about the Helles!

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