Trout Meuniere (with toasted almonds)
The trout Meuniere with almond ( truite aux amandes) is a classic french recipe that uses the Meuniere style of cooking, where The fish is first coated in flour then pan fried and served with lemon juice,butter and parsley. toward the end some toasted almonds are added to bring an extra layer flavor.However the Meuniere cooking style from what that recipe derives is really used most of the time with the flat fish called: "the Sole" and is known as the Sole meunière.For a bit of history of the name Meuniere come from the "Meunière" (the miller's wife's method) and refers to the use of flour at the time of cooking: with flour, you get a perfectly cooked fish, with a little crispy crust, which also has the advantage to not sticking to the pan when cooking.Ingredients for 2 trouts ( multiply the ingredients if need)base
ingredients:
2 fresh trouts clean and scaled
4 tablespoon of plain flour
1 tablespoon of oil
40 grams European style salted butter
Meuniere butter:
1 lemon
80 grams of salted butter
4 tablespoons of toasted almonds
For the garnish:
1 lemon peeled and sliced
2 tablespoon of chopped parsley
Note: after testing the recipe and research it further I have found that in Normandy (France ) the Meuniere is made using lightly salted butter. I can confirm also that salted butter bring a much better flavor that goes well with the lemon juice.
instructions:
Start by cleaning trouts. when clean pat them fry and store them on a tray in the fridge for later use.
continue with the food preparation: weigh the butter, chop the parsley, juice 1 of the lemon and peel the other one ( as shown on the video)
when done pour the flour in a tray or a plate, take the trouts out of the fridge and coat them lighly with some of the flour ( as shown in the video)
place a large pan of fish pan on the stove on medium to high heat and add a tablespoon of oil and the 40 grams of butter.
when the butter start to foam add the trout in the pan (the trout belly should be facing toward the top of the pan)
Leave the trout to cook in the butter on one side first for 4 minutes then turn it over to the other side and cook it for a further 4 minutes.( while the trout are cooking make sure you drizzle them butter regularly with a spoon.)
After 8 minutes turn the heat off and leave the trout in the pan to rest while you make the brown butter and toast the almonds.
For the almonds you have 2 options: you can either toast them dry in a clean pan on their own or cook them with the butter when making the brown butter.
To make the brown butter place the 80 grams of butter in a small saucepan on medium heat until it begins to foam. The color will progress from lemony-yellow to golden-tan to, finally, a toasty-brown. Once you smell that nutty aroma, the butter is ready. you can turn the heat of and serve.
Serving the fish:
when the brown butter is ready place the trouts on a serving dish ( the head on the left side and the fish belly facing toward you). cover them with the freshly squeeze lemon juice, pour the brown butter over and finish off with the parsley followed by a few sprinkles of almonds. serve with a side of mash or boiled potatoes, steam green beans, cauliflower, courgettes.pair with a dry white from burgundy (chablis) of the loire valley ( muscadet) .Bon appetit.
Step by step video tutorial