So earlier in the culinary school experience we all got tasked with writing our own recipe. As many of you know I did a pork tenderloin with a balsamic reduction and beet salad. I was pretty proud of it and I enjoyed the experience of creating a recipe from scratch, which was new to me. Well little did I know that those recipes would come back to haunt us as our culinary school experience starts to draw to a close.

Last week we were given one of our classmates recipes and we were tasked with making it, testing not only the recipe, but also our culinary skills. I got a recipe for cooking a whole trout and when I mean whole I mean head and tail intact. This was a new one for me. As you all know the whole filleting a fish process was not one of my favorite and I have kind of adopted the philosophy of make your butcher and fishmonger your best friend and all will be right with the world....until last week.

So after an amazing wedding in Temecula on Sunday night I got up early and drove home knowing full well that I had to purchase and cook this trout for class later that day. I went to Whole Foods because I thought that would be my best bet for good quality whole trout and I was able to do the "cutie thing," to get my trout cleaned for me.

And ok enough drama let me be totally honest, cooking a whole trout was super easy. The recipe has the trout dredged in a mixture of corn meal, flour, salt and pepper. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and cook the fish until it is brown on one side, flip it over and brown the other side. Next throw the whole pan in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes, finishing off the fish. Voila! I was super pleased with how it looked. It had a nice crust, it was lightly browned and it looked well like a whole fish should.

The next part of the recipe I knew I had in the bag as it involved cooking broccoli and carrots. The broccoli was blanched in boiling water and then placed in an ice bath. The ice bath stops the cooking process and helps the broccoli maintain it's color. Next saute the broccoli in butter with some garlic and call it good. The carrots were even easier as they are just steamed in a steamer and seasoned with salt and pepper.

The hard part of this recipe, to my surprise, was not the whole fish, it was the sauce. I learned a valuable lesson after my sauce broke aka. separated...the egg and butter need to be at the same temperature when they are combined otherwise they do not get along well with each other. So heat a pot of water to boil. Put a bowl over the pot and beat the egg yolks in that bowl, slowly drizzling melted butter and continuing to whisk. Add lemon juice, orange juice and zest and continue to whisk until the sauce is combined. If it gets too thick you can add a little water. If it is too runny reduce the citrus juice.

Trout with Maltaise Sauce Serves 6

6 small or 3 medium size trout
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup corn meal
salt and pepper
1 lb Chinese broccoli, trimmed (2 bunches)
1 1/2 T minced garlic
3 T butter
2 bunches of baby carrots, multi-colored if possible, trimmed and scrubbed
2 egg yolks
1 stick unsalted butter, melted (1/2 cup)
1T lemon juice
Juice of 1 orange
Zest of 1 orange

Mix the corn meal, flour, salt and pepper in a dish. Dredge the trout on both sides. If necessary, dredge once and dip in milk and dredge in the flour mixture a second time. This technique can also be used if you want a thicker crust.

In a saucepan over high heat add 1T olive oil. Add fish and saute on one side until brown. Turn fish over and cook for a couple of minutes or until browned on the other side. Take the entire pan and place in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes

Boil water and cook broccoli for 3-5 minutes. Plunge into ice water for one minute to preserve the color. Remove from water and place in a colander to drain. In a hot sauce pan, add butter to melt. Add broccoli and saute for 1 minute. Add fresh garlic and saute until garlic starts to brown.

In a steamer, steam carrots for approximately 5 minutes or until tender. Add salt and pepper.

Melt butter for sauce. Add water to a pot and bring to a boil. Place bowl over boiling water and beat egg yolks. Start mixing egg and slowly drizzling in the butter until combined. Add salt and pepper. If the sauce is too thick add a little water. Add lemon juice. Add the orange zest and orange juice. If the sauce is too thin, reduce the amount of orange juice. Keep warm over simmering water until ready to serve.

Place the broccoli in the center of the plate and place the trout on it. The carrots are served on the side of the plate. Pour the sauce over the trout.


Everything was going pretty well overall with the entire dish until I pulled into the culinary school parking lot. I had plated the fish and vegetables prior to leaving the house and I had the sauce in a bowl with a lid. I was planning on adding the sauce and doing my final plating when I got to school. Somehow when I got out oft he car and grabbed my bag with my dish and sauce...ummm...welll.....the bottom of the bag broke and....



I truly did not know whether to laugh or to cry. I opted for laughing as I looked at the parking lot scattered with turquoise plate pieces, maltaise sauce and my lovely whole trout. I was at least pleased that the fish and vegetables stayed plated as they crashed to the ground. And I was even more thrilled when the Chef still gave me credit for my dish even though he could not taste it...or I guess he opted out on the tasting portion...seriously there is the 30 second rule, right?

Cheers my friends! Happy Sunday!