Last Night’s Dinner

Sometimes dinner is more about putting together a few items from the fridge and pantry and less about actual cooking. Last night was one of those times - I had something planned for dinner, but as the morning’s rains moved out, leaving us with a beautiful, warm evening, the meal I originally had in mind seemed too heavy. I needed a Plan B.

In addition to my outline of meals for the week, I keep a running list of ideas for quick pantry dinners in my menu planning notebook. Often this list is nothing more than combinations of ingredients that I think would work well together, and I often turn to the list when I need to come up with dinner on the fly.

We’re big fans of canned and tinned fish of all types, so we’ve always got some in the pantry. I thought of the two tins of Cole’s Petite Rainbow Trout we had on hand, and decided to go with one of the combinations listed in my little red book: trout+potatoes+mustard. I whisked together a couple of tablespoons each of mayo, creme fraiche and Dijon mustard, fresh lemon juice, a minced shallot, salt, pepper and a teaspoon or so of brown mustard seeds to make a tangy and lightly creamy dressing. I added a good handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley for color and an herbal kick, and then gently tossed the potatoes and trout in the dressing until coated. I mounded the salad over a big bed of baby lettuces, added a little more freshly ground pepper, and that was that - dinner in minutes, with a minimum of time, effort or fuss.

We’re coming out of another stretch of brutal heat and humidity here, made all the more enjoyable by yesterday’s torrential downpour which crippled the subway system. The only cooking I’ve done the last two days is eggs – a few hard-boiled ones on Tuesday evening to go into a smoked trout salad, and a couple of fried ones for the egg sandwiches I made to fortify us before our long, slow Wednesday morning commute. These days dinner has been all about salads – a little chopping, mixing up quick dressings, then assemble and eat, no sweltering in a hot kitchen or over a hot grill necessary.

Tuesday night’s salad may not be the prettiest thing to look at, but it was tasty. I combined a couple of tablespoons each of whole grain Dijon mustard, mayo, crème fraiche and Wheelhouse horseradish with salt and the juice of about half a lemon. I added about a cup each of chopped fennel bulb and red onion, four peeled and chopped hard boiled eggs, and two small filets of applewood smoked trout, broken into large-ish chunks. I served the salad on a bed of baby arugula and finished it with a sprinkling of chopped fennel fronds. The mixture of smoky trout and crunchy fennel and onion, plus the creamy dressing and the bite of mustard and horseradish, was a real winner.

After the morning Mike and I had yesterday, and because it was still 87 degrees come dinner hour, I decided to go even simpler than the previous night’s salad for Wednesday’s dinner. I washed and spun a mixture of lettuces, chopped up some cucumber and a couple of heirloom tomatoes, thinly sliced some red onion and layered them in a big bowl. I added a handful of chopped fresh dill to that, and mixed up a batch of my basic lemon vinaigrette enriched with chunks of good feta and a little bit of buttermilk. I dressed the salad ingredients and gave everything a good toss before dividing the salad between our two plates, then I added some mixed olives and stuffed grape leaves on top of each – it couldn’t have been simpler, and it really hit the spot.

The trains and temperatures are pretty much back to normal today, so hopefully I’ll have some actual cooking to share with you soon. Stay cool, everyone!

I was absolutely delighted to get Mike’s email yesterday morning detailing his Greenmarket haul: “CHERVIL, cherry tomatoes, rainbow trout, garlic scapes, snap peas, shell peas” it read, and I knew immediately what I wanted to do with the bulk of it. I was home from work yesterday and had spent some time in the afternoon cleaning and blanching the peas and favas we had left over from Monday’s shopping, so I was already halfway there.

My thought was that I would slice up some baby fennel bulbs we had in the fridge and sauté them with some of the garlic scapes Mike brought home, and then add a splash of white vermouth, some lemon juice, a pinch of salt and the peas and favas. I’d stuff some chervil inside each of the trout, and chop a bit more of the chervil up along with tarragon, chives and parsley from our garden to finish the veggies.

Mike grilled the trout over indirect heat for about 5 minutes per side, and the veggies took just a few minutes to sauté. I stirred in the fines herbes off the heat just before I plated the veggies up, and then placed a whole trout on top. The rich flavor of the trout was a lovely match for the tender, aromatic veggie/herb blend.

A note about the trout: We get our trout from Max Creek Hatchery at the Union Square Greenmarket, and when Mike was there Wednesday morning, Dave Harris, the owner, told him that the only fresh trout he had available was his farmed rainbow trout because he had lost 600 brook trout to mink this week. This is obviously a big dent in his livelihood, so if you’re a fan of trout or would like to give it a try, please go see Dave at the Greenmarket next Wednesday and buy some of his excellent fresh or smoked trout.

One could argue that everything is better with bacon; after our meal last night, I am inclined to agree.

Mike picked up a couple of smallish whole brook trout from Max Creek Hatchery at the Greenmarket yesterday, as well as a bunch of ramps and package of Tamarack Hollow’s excellent bacon. While he got a fire going in the new grill, I seasoned the trout inside and out with a little kosher salt, stuffed their bellies with ramps, and wrapped three strips of bacon around each fish, threading toothpicks through the ends to secure them.

The fish went onto the grill and we cooked them for about 12 minutes a side over indirect heat. The bacon basted the fish as it cooked, and the fat kept the fish from sticking to the grate. The ramps got crisp on the ends and picked up a delicious smoky flavor, and the fish stayed moist and tender encased in its porky cocoon. I quickly sautéed a bunch of young mustard greens in a bit of olive oil and sliced up a greenhouse tomato to serve alongside (still not as good as our home-grown tomatoes when they’re in-season, but surprisingly tasty).

This meal was incredibly simple and beyond delicious. After about two bites we ditched our silverware and just started eating with our fingers! We’ll definitely do this one again.

This is not the meal that I had planned to make last night, but I can’t complain. Spontaneity is a good thing, and when Mike called to tell me that he had swung through the Greenmarket at Union Square on his lunch break and picked up a beautiful fresh trout, it would have been crazy not to switch gears.

We both agreed that a simple preparation would be best, so after Mike filleted the trout, I seasoned the filets with a little salt and pepper, gave them a light dusting of flour and then sautéed them in a little butter for just a couple of minutes on each side. I ran my knife through a bit of flat-leaf parsley and some raw almonds and sprinkled the mixture on top of the filets.

My own lunchtime food safari consisted of a trip down to Greenwich Produce in the market at Grand Central, where I had picked up half a pound of new potatoes, some fresh peas and fava beans. Mike halved the potatoes and put them on to boil while I peeled the favas, and when the potatoes were tender I drained them, added a bit of butter, salt and pepper and tossed in the peas and favas. I cooked them briefly then stirred in a handful of chopped fresh tarragon.

This was so simple, and so quick to put together, but there was something really elegant about the way the flavors went together, the freshness of it all - it just tasted like springtime.