ShareThisBy LYNNE ROSSETTO KASPER
Dear Lynne: A Rocky Mountain vacation gave us a mess of our very own fresh-caught trout. A lot got frozen, and we're getting tired of frying the fish in bacon fat. What other ways can we cook these critters? _ Ornery Anglers in Evergreen
Dear Ornery Anglers: You can poach them in a white wine and garlic, or pan-fry in olive oil with tarragon and lemon slices, but right now I would cash in on all those cheap fresh herbs at farmers markets with this recipe. Any fish _ whole, filet or steak _ could stand in for the trout here. The rule of thumb to remember for cooking fish: give it 10 minutes per inch of thickness.
The trout are excellent with corn on the cob and sliced tomatoes.
FLASH-ROAST TROUT ON GREEN HERBS
Serves 4
Good-tasting extra-virgin olive oil
6 or 7 branches each of fresh thyme, parsley, oregano, basil, sage and rosemary
4 whole scallions, coarsely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 whole trout, rinsed inside and out and patted dry
4 cloves garlic, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon
1 large lemon cut into 4 wedges
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly oil a large shallow roasting pan (a half sheet pan is ideal) and slip it empty onto the middle rack of the oven. As it heats, rinse the herbs and scallions, and dry them on paper towels.
Make three slashes into each side of the trout, not quite touching the bone. Rub a liberal amount of olive oil on the outside of the fish (including into the slashes) as well as into the cavity. Place a crushed garlic clove inside each trout. Salt and pepper the fish on both sides.
When ready to cook, scatter the herbs on the heated pan so they make a nest for the fish (they protect the fish from sticking to the pan). Lay the 4 fish on top of them, not letting them touch each other. Roast 8 to 12 minutes, or until the fish is nearly opaque or white to the bone. Immediately remove from the oven.
With 2 metal spatulas, lift the trout with their beds of herbs onto a serving platter. Squeeze the lemon juice over them, and garnish with the wedges.
Dear Lynne: How did the chef's uniform come to be? I mean the white coat, that tall hat with pleats that is so odd and the black-and-white pants. These strike me as being the classic costume. Is there a story here? _ Too Much Time on My Hands in Columbus
Dear Too Much Time: There is a story here, but one with a lot of variations, and little solid proof.
I have heard of origins with royal cooks in Assyria before Christ and Greek Orthodox monasteries, but I have a suspicion that what you describe started in France. You see illustrations of the white double-breasted jacket in 19th-century illustrations. One source says that Antonin Careme, a famous and powerful chef of the time, demanded white in the kitchen to show that cooks could be clean and sanitary.
Chefs' Web sites agree that today a white cotton jacket is favored because it breathes and you can easily bleach out stains in washing. Double-breasted jackets are traditional because they insulate the front of the body from stove heat. And in a pinch you can switch the buttoning to cover stains. Pants of black-and-white dots or other tiny, busy patterns hide stains, too.
Hats used to reveal status (today the baseball cap and bandanna often trump the tall toque). Executive chefs wore the tallest ones; the lowest workers on the totem pole wore the flat types. One beloved belief is that the 100 pleats that are traditional in the tall toque are there to signify the 100 ways that a true chef can cook an egg.
Dear Lynne: Could you explain Salad Dressing 101? Making my own would be fun and save money. _ Thanks from Penny Pincher
Dear Penny Pincher: I'll do anything to get people away from those bottled dressings with ingredient lists that read like a high-school lab experiment. For easy entree into dressings, start with the mother of all of them, the basic French/Italian vinaigrette. It is the foundation of a flock of others.
HOMEMADE SALAD DRESSING 101
Basic French and Italian Dressing Formula: 1 part good-tasting vinegar to 2 to 3 parts good-tasting oil (olive, walnut, almond, hazelnut, pumpkin seed, etc.). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Keeps a week or more at room temperature.
Variations ...
Garlic Herb Dressing: Take a small quantity of the basic dressing and blend in to taste chopped fresh basil, thyme, rosemary and minced garlic.
Dijon Dressing: Blend into the basic dressing Dijon mustard, minced shallot and fresh tarragon.
Honey Mustard Dressing: Add to Dijon Dressing brown sugar or honey to taste. A tablespoon of mayonnaise makes it creamy.
Bleu Cheese Dressing: Blend into the basic dressing sour cream, minced onion and crumbled bleu cheese.
Parmesan Peppercorn: Blend as for bleu cheese, substituting grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for the bleu cheese and adding coarsely ground black pepper.
Ranch Dressing: Stir into the basic formula minced garlic, chopped parsley, chopped scallions and chopped basil, mixed with equal amounts of mayonnaise and buttermilk.
(Lynne Rossetto Kasper hosts "The Splendid Table," Minnesota Public Radio's weekly national show for people who love to eat. For more information, visit www.splendidtable.org or call 1-800-537-5252.)
