Trout Roe on Buttered Toast with Lemony Herbs & Smoked Trout with Mustard and Apples by Alison Roman

For the not-so seafood savvy like me, you might be wondering, what is trout roe exactly? Also referred to as caviar, roe is an unfertilized egg collected from a fish. Not exactly a description I call “appetizing.” I recognize that many people view caviar as a delicacy, but I’m not really a delicacy kind of person. Needless to say, I put this recipe off until I couldn’t any longer. 

Last week, I decided that it was high time to start crossing off the final seafood recipes. So I picked two: trout roe on toast and smoked trout with mustard and apples. Then I marched over to Whole Foods with determination and a tinge of dread. I found smoked trout in a refrigerator next to the seafood counter, but didn’t see the roe. I asked the seafood counter for help, and turns out, the roe was next to the smoked trout, but it was labeled caviar. Clearly I hadn’t done my research yet. They didn’t have trout roe, but Alison says salmon roe will do the trick, so that’s what I purchased. 

I paid for the products reluctantly (caviar is pricey!) and marched back over the bridge toward home. That afternoon, I popped a slice of sourdough in the toaster, smeared a heck of a lot of butter on it, and topped it with dill, lemon zest, flaky salt, and roe. And it wasn’t bad. It’s hard to mess with buttered toast and dill. Roe is very fishy, perhaps too much for my taste. But I could sort of convince myself that it was good. I still have much of the jar left, so maybe I’ll try it with potato chips like Alison does in the video she released today (I swear I’m getting more and more on her wavelength somehow). 

The next day, I pulled out the package of smoked trout and tried a small bite. Again, not terrible, but not something I’d normally choose to eat. This salad is a nice way to eat it though, with plenty of vinegar to balance out the fishiness. Sour cream smeared on the bottom of the bowl, mustard greens (I used arugula) and mustard seeds soaked in apple cider vinegar. Smoked trout, too. All in all a fine combination. Jordan and I ate this for lunch. Now that I’m thinking about, it would have gone nicely with some salty potato chips, too! 

If you like this kind of fishy food, I think you’ll love these recipes. If you don’t, feel free to skip them.

190 and 191 recipes cooked, 34 to go.

Escarole with Mustard and Spicy Guanciale Bread Crumbs by Alison Roman

This is the kind of salad I could eat all the time. Texture for days, vinegary and spicy overtones, and bread crumbs. I mean, does it get better than that? 

For some people, it does. Jordan didn’t love this salad. For him, the whole grain mustard was too strong. Once he said this, I had to somewhat agree with him. I love mustard, but I could have done with about half the amount. 

The base of this salad is escarole, a member of the chicory family (see this post for fun facts and a corny joke about chicories). Chicories have a signature bitterness and their leaves are usually very soft to the touch. Escarole is less bitter than radicchio and has the texture of butter lettuce. Still, its bite required something fatty to balance it. 

Enter guanciale, the fattier cousin of pancetta. Sadly, I could not find guanciale in stores. I was really looking forward to trying it, but had to settle with a box of diced pancetta. Not ideal, but still a fatty pork alternative. I sauteed the pancetta over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes, allowing the fat to render before the pork got too crispy. Once there was enough fat in the pan, I added a cup of fresh sourdough breadcrumbs and chile flakes, and let them toast until golden brown. However, because I used pancetta, there wasn’t enough fat to soak all of the crumbs, and I had to add a little olive oil to make up the difference. 

Thinly sliced shallot adds a fabulous crunch. The shallot rings are first marinated in a few tablespoons of white wine vinegar. Alison suggests at least 10 minutes, but I say the longer the better so they get more pickle-y. 

Just before serving, I tossed the shallot, whole grain mustard, guanciale bread crumbs, parsley, and escarole together, and drizzled it with olive oil. Like I said, Jordan wasn’t a huge fan. But I loved it. I had two servings for dinner and ate the rest of it for lunch the next day. It made for really good leftovers. The leaves didn’t get too soggy and the shallot continued to pickle overnight. 

I served this salad with another round of Alison’s incredible Crispy Chicken Legs.

73 recipes cooked, 152 to go.

Mustardy Green Beans with Anchovyed Walnuts by Alison Roman

I’ll admit I was skeptical about anchovyed walnuts. I wasn’t in the mood for fishy nuts as I started my dinner prep. To be honest, anchovyed anything never sounds appealing to me. And yet, I thoroughly enjoy eating anchovyed foods 9 out of 10 times they’re on my plate. So, it was past experience that pushed me to follow through with Alison’s instructions, not my appetite. 

And like most of my prior experience, these anchovyed walnuts were delicious. In a pot filled with a ¼ cup of olive oil, toast a cup of coarsely chopped walnuts until fragrant and golden. Remove from heat, and swirl in anchovies and grated garlic until the anchovies have melted and disappeared. Set them aside for later, and also snack on them while you make the rest of dinner. They’re just as nice on their own, and they’re not too fishy. 

We eat oven-roasted green beans, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, about every 1-2 weeks here, so preparing the beans was a simple repetition for me. Alison has you throw in some thinly sliced lemon pieces, another standard addition in my kitchen. While everything gets lightly charred in the oven, prepare a simple dressing made of whole grain mustard, white wine vinegar and olive oil. When the beans are done, they get tossed in this tangy vinaigrette. 

The last step is to plate the saucy lemon and beans and sprinkle with whatever walnuts are left, post-snacking. The whole dish is bursting with my kind of flavor palette (I LOVE anything that boasts salt and vinegar). And the toasty walnuts are a nice textural contrast to the beans and charred lemon. While I don’t think I’ll go out of my way to make beans like this all the time, I do think I’ll start to go this route more often when I’m up to the extra steps. The reward is certainly worth it.

63 recipes cooked, 162 to go.