Today is my youngest child’s birthday. He turned 14. We had chosen not to celebrate his birthday with a big family dinner since we had 2 family birthday parties this week-end already, and he had marching band rehearsal until 6:45. I really felt bad to postpone his birthday until next Sunday so I wanted to make sure that he would at least eat something he would love. So this morning, i inquired him about his wishes for dinner. Guess what he answered;-)….. “I don’t know” That’s what he said. Well, now I had to figure out what to cook. And I chose to prepare caesar’s salad, spaghetti carbonara and chocolate cake for them…So now that their meal was chosen, all I had to do is figure out my meal. And my answer came when I saw those good looking fresh trout filet at Publix this evening. Yum!!!

I love trout. It is very mild in taste and if prepared properly does not have a fishy taste. I love its meat. It is very fine and delicate. The fish is so thin that it requires very little cooking time. Great advantage when you are trying to fix two dinners at once ( like me). The best part of this fish is that it requires no frills. It is such a good fish, that just flash saute with a little bit of butter and parsley is enough! But what to fix with it… Haricots verts seemed like a great addition!

Ingredients ( for 1 person): 1 trout filet, garlic salt to taste, 1 tbsp of butter, half of a lemon.

Pat dry the trout filet with a paper towel, and sprinkle garlic salt and pepper on either side. Turn your stove to medium high. In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter and let it sizzle. When the butter is browning, place the trout skin up in the pan. Saute the trout for 1-2 minutes until it goldens. Flip the trout and saute it for 1-2 minutes again until the skin is becoming brown and crispy. Squeeze half of a lemon all over the trout. Lower the temperature to low- medium, and cover the frying pan with a lid. Keep it covered for 1-2 minutes until the trout is cooked through, and the meat has turned to white ( and is no longer pink). Be careful not to overcook.

Lemon and Dill Haricots Verts: 1 bag of haricots verts, 1 tsp of lemon dill demarle herb mix, salt to taste.

While the trout is cooking, place the haricots  verts in the large fleximold, cover with the octogonal silpat and cook for 3 minutes. When the beans are cooked, add 1 tsp of lemon/ dill Demarle herb mix,  1/2 tsp of olive oil, and salt to taste to the beans and mix well.

To serve, place the dill haricots vert on the side of the plate, and place the trout filet on the other side. For decoration, slice very thin slice of lemon and place atop the fish. Not bad for a dinner cooked in less than 5 minutes:-)

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!