I love the place where I live. It is a very quiet place not too far away from everything. It is only 3 hours from the beach and the same from the mountains. The weather is perfect, with 300+ days of sunshine. I probably could do without the humidity but after 18 years I have accustomed to it. I would be however happier with more restaurants choices. Don’t get me wrong, there are good restaurants here but they have been here as long  or longer than I have and their specials are not novelty to me anymore. This is probably the reason why we dine out so rarely. I already know what is on the menu, and can cook most of them . Sometimes however, we do go out-of-town and take the opportunity to dine out. This Saturday was so beautiful and the temperature was so mild that we decided to go to Greenville,  hang out, and have dinner there. High Cotton became our place of destination for dinner. The food is good, the ambiance pleasant and the surrounding area just beautiful. While my husband ordered ….steaks ( did you guess?!?!), I ordered trout. It was very good and this was so simple that I thought I could duplicate this recipe for you so you could make it at home. This recipe is not at all that of High Cotton, but my adaptation of what I tasted. I hope you will enjoy it;-)

Ingredients for 2: 2 strips of hickory bacon uncooked, 1/4 purple onion sliced and diced thinly, 1 bag of frozen succotash mix (16 oz)( or if you can find it: 1/2 bag of baby lima beans ( 8oz), and 1/2 bag of young corn), 2 cups of chicken broth, 3 small lemon thyme twigs, lemon pepper,  2 trout filets.

In a small saucepan, place the bacon and cook until it is almost crispy and has released most of its fat. Drain the fat from the pan and set aside for later usage. Add 1 tsp of the bacon dripping to the pan and when it is sizzling, add the diced onions and saute until it is golden and crispy. Then add the frozen succotash, the broth, the thyme, a dash of salt and pepper and  mix well. Bring the mixture to boil, and when it has reached boiling temperature, turn the heat down and cook for another 8-10 minutes.

While the succotash is cooking, prepare the fish. Remove the fish from its packaging and rinse it under cold water. With a paper towel, dry the fish and sprinkle some lemon pepper on all sides.

Then in a large frying pan, add 1 tbsp of the bacon drippings and bring it to sizzle. When it is sizzling, saute the fish for 1 minute on each side. Start with the open side of the fish, flip it and saute and the skin part for another minute. Remove the fish from the frying pan so it won’t continue cooking. Scoop the succotash and place it in  large round mold,  and place the fish on top.

Cover the large round mold, with the octogonal silpat and cook in a warm oven at 375 for 5 minutes for 1 filet, 8 for 2 filets. To plate the fish, spoon some succotash on the plate and place the filet on top. Decorate with a few thyme twigs.

Et voila!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!