Trout with Beets, Broccoli and Blood Orange

Two friends of mine, Gabi and Gaba recently launched a new Hungarian food blog with recipes and information about fish and seafood. Because I love to work with local fish like trout or char, they asked me to write a guest post with a recipe featuring trout and seasonal ingredients. Although winter is dark and cold, the ingredients of this season aren’t nearly as grey and dreary as they are often told. This dish is a good example for the bright colors of winter. Actually, the colors of the vegetables are complemented by the single grey element on the plate only, the trout.

For the garnish, I cooked the red beets in two different ways. I wrapped one beet in aluminium foil and baked it in the oven. The remaining beets were first sprinkled with salt and sugar and allowed to “breath out” the earthy flavors for a few minutes. Only then I cooked and blended them into a fine puree. I also used the cooking liquid to reheat the baked beets after peeling and cutting them into wedges. The sweetness of the beets was complemented by the blood orange vinaigrette, which added some acidity to the whole plate and enhanced all flavors, especially the trout. I steamed some broccoli florets, which worked well both in color and in taste with the beets. The final touch were a few drops of peanut butter mixed with malt extract and seasoned with soy sauce. It helped making every bite slightly different and kept the dish interesting until the end. For the styling of the plate I was inspired by Ákos Sárközi’s (Borkonyha / Winekitchen) recent video.

You can read my guest post in Hungarian at Gabi and Gaba’s food blog “Tarka Bárka” here.