I went to the market today and picked up a fresh Nova Scotia trout, green and yellow beans, pancetta, and a few odds and ends. What resulted is the above meal.
I forgot we were making risotto and had the potatoes already in the oven; big deal if I put two starches in the same dish. Both were amazingly delicious. A few "rules" were broken and don't be fooled, this blog is not about forcing silly rules upon you. Sure, there are some cooking fundamentals that should act as a guide when eating but food should also be enjoyable and if it feels good, do it.
The risotto was started with pancetta, olive oil, and butter, and then in went the rice, red onion and chili. Canadian Gewürztraminer was then added and then the rice was cooked in some chicken stock I had previously frozen from another time. At the end, it was topped with some parsley from my patio and sliced green onion.
The potatoes were sliced in half, tossed in olive oil, a tiny bit of red wine vinegar, summer savoury from the patio, and salt and pepper. Those were roasted off for about 30 minutes.
The green and yellow beans were steamed and finished with butter and seasoned with salt and pepper.
The trout was sloppily filleted, seasoned with salt and pepper, and cooked in a cast iron pan that started off with pancetta, olive oil, butter, and a bit of the red onion and chili. Skin side down almost the whole time and flipped to give some flavour to the top of the fish. Oh yeah, there was a mango salsa that was made with mango, red onion, chili, cilantro from the patio, lime juice, and a bit of salt.
I had no idea what was for dinner tonight until that trip to the market. If you're ever feeling like dinner is pointless just take a trip to a market whether it be a permanent one like we have in Saint John, a farmer's market or your regular supermarket. There is surely something there that can inspire you to cook up something tasty for you and your friends and family.
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