Trout with Tomato Bacon Sauce & Haricots Verts
“Haricots Verts” (‘ar-ee-coh ‘vairz) is French for “green beans”; however, haricots verts are thinner with smaller seeds and have a more complex flavor than American green beans.
Ingredients
½ cup hickory nuts
1 lb. very thin haricots verts
4 deboned brook trout fillets (3-5 oz. each)
Salt and pepper
2 oz. Canola oil
1 Tbsp. butter
For the Cherry Tomato Bacon Sauce:
1 cup bacon (or other cured meat), diced small
1 garlic clove, minced fine
¼ medium-sized red onion, sliced very thin (optional)
2-3 tsp. red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
2-3 tsp. white sugar (Wisconsin maple syrup is a good substitute)
1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
2 Tbsp. capers, rinsed (optional)
10-15 small fresh basil leaves
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions
Roughly chop hickory nuts and toast dry on a baking tray at 250 degrees for 5 minutes, or until nuts are hot to the touch. Remove from oven, let cool, and set aside.
Meanwhile, wash the haricots verts and remove the stems. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, seasoned with enough salt so it tastes like the sea. Boil the haricots verts for 3 minutes. Remove the beans from the salted water and immediately plunge into ice water. Remove the beans once they are cold and set aside.
While the beans are cooling, prepare the Cherry Tomato Bacon Sauce. Sauté bacon for 5 to 6 minutes over low heat until lightly caramelized. As soon as bacon starts to caramelize, add garlic and onion and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring or moving the pan consistently. As soon as the onions start to turn translucent, add the vinegar and sugar. Continue cooking until the mixture is reduced by half. Turn off heat, add the tomatoes, capers, basil and olive oil and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. The sauce should have a nice sweet and sour, salty, smoky flavor. Set sauce aside.
Season trout fillets with salt and pepper. Heat the canola oil in a cast iron or nonstick pan over medium-high heat until the oil just starts to smoke. Place the trout skin side down and cook until caramelized. Weigh the fish down if needed. Once the skin takes color and is crispy, add the butter, flip fish, and finish cooking for 1 minute. As soon as the fish is cooked, serve right away.
To serve, sauté the beans in butter until hot then season with sea salt to taste. Place the hot trout fillet on a warm plate, top with hot haricots verts and warm Cherry Tomato Bacon Sauce, and garnish with toasted hickory nuts and fresh latesummer herbs of your choice.
Suggestions
Haricots verts are used here for their uniqueness, but American green beans may be substituted, if desired.
This recipe pairs well with Wollersheim Winery's Domaine du Sac. The grapes are grown on the winery hillsides overlooking the Wisconsin River, where they develop aromas of fruit with deep berry flavors. Domaine du Sac is aged five months in French and American oak barrels and has a mediumbodied palate with overtones of raspberries and dark cherries.
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