French Bistro Trout Amandine

French Bistro Trout Amandine with Haricots Verts
Almonds, Dried Currants, Capers, Lemon, Browned Butter, Parsley

The back story for this dish started last summer when I received an email from Mon Ami Gabi Restaurant in Las Vegas regarding their Summer Scratch Off event. I wasn’t particularly interested in the event, but the image of the trout with fresh green beans really caught my eye. It looked so balanced and tasty, I saved it to my computer.

The restaurant describes itself as honoring classic French cuisine, serving traditional French gastronomy in a quaint Parisian bistro, devising fresh takes on classic fare.

On a recent a trip to Vegas, we had to have lunch at our favorite al fresco restaurant. Who can resist sitting outside on The Strip, watching the spectacular choreographed Bellagio water fountains accompanied by Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman singing Con Te Partiro? Not us, not ever. It is a rare visit to Vegas indeed, when we do not have breakfast or lunch at Mon Ami Gabi at Paris Las Vegas. On one trip a while back, I even purchased a set of their plates for my collection.

French Bistro Trout Amandine

This trip, I tried that Trout Amandine. Both my sister and I did. We both thought it was delicious. Simple in preparation and presentation but a wonderfully light and satisfying lunch dish. I snapped a few images with my iPhone, intending to recreate a similar dish at home.

Et Voilà!

And here it is, with a makeover. My almond-currant-caper-parsley-lemon -browned-butter topping adds extra sweet, salty, herbal, and tangy notes to the dish.

As a Vegetable Side Dish

Even without fish, the Almond Browned Butter Topping is perfect served over green beans. Green beans and almonds have a natural affinity for each other. Interestingly, if you lift the lid while steaming green beans you will notice an almond-like aroma.

Method

Almond Currant Caper Browned Butter Topping

• 2 parts blanched whole almonds, rough chopped
• 1 part dried currants
• 1 part capers, rinsed
• butter
• parsley, chopped
• lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Toss almonds in a dry non-stick skillet over medium-heat until starting to brown. Add the currants and capers, cook another couple of minutes to heat through. Add a nice-sized pat of butter and cook until the butter starts to brown. Add a handful of parsley, stir and remove from heat. Add a generous squeeze of lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.

How to Cook Trout

• fresh boneless trout fillets
• salt and pepper
• fine milled flour (Wondra)
• olive oil
• grapeseed oil

Season fresh boneless trout fillets with salt and pepper then dust with flour. Meanwhile heat a mixture of half olive oil/ half grapeseed oil in a non-stick skillet over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the trout flesh-side-down and reduce the heat to medium-high. Sauté until golden brown then flip and cook the skin side. Trout is thin and cooks quite quickly.

To Serve French Bistro Trout Amandine

• cooked trout
• haricots verts, cooked to bright green
• almond topping
• lemon

Place trout fillet flesh-side-up in the middle of plate, arrange haricots verts on one side. Spoon almond topping over both the fish and beans. Serve extra lemon on the side.

Bon Appétit!

Note: Amandine and Almondine are interchangeable. I prefer the more Frenchy spelling.