Recipe #313: Baked Whole Trout

My first trip to Costco resulted in my first time purchasing (and then cooking) whole fish.  It was so fresh and moist baking it this way.  The bones are a little annoying, but the work is worth it for how flavorful this turned out.  The trout was already gutted and cleaned, so it was a simple dish to make.

Prepped and ready for the oven

INGREDIENTS, amounts as needed/to taste:

Whole trout

Dried dill weed

Dried thyme

Salt

Pepper

Lemon slices

Sliced Onions

White wine (or chicken broth or water)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Oil a metal baking/roasting pan.  Season insides of fish with dill, thyme, salt, and pepper, and stuff with onions.  Oil the outside of the fish and season the outsides too.  Lay lemon slices on top.  Pour over a little white wine on each fish.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Pour more wine over and bake another 10, until the fish flakes easily.  Remove heads and tails and serve.

Recipe #312: Caprese Garlic Bread

My sister was raving about this recipe, so I had to try it.  Her high praise wasn't for nothing- this is delicious.  I used four mini loaves of ciabatta and a whole stick of butter.  I also found a bottle of balsamic glaze at the store instead of having to make it myself.  This is from twopeasandtheirpod.com.

ingredients:

1 loaf ciabatta bread, horizontally cut in half
4 tablespoons salted butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
12 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place both sides of the baguette on a large baking sheet with the cut side up.

2. In a small bowl, combine butter and garlic and spread evenly on bread halves. Place the mozzarella cheese slices on top of the bread, making sure the cheese covers the bread completely. Bake the bread for 12-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

3. While the bread is in the oven, make the balsamic reduction. Place the balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan. Bring the vinegar to a boil, decrease the heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is reduced by about half. This should only take about 5-7 minutes. Set aside.

4. Remove the bread from oven. Top the bread with tomato slices. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add the fresh basil and drizzle with balsamic reduction. Cut into slices and serve.

Recipe #311: Slow Cooker Maple Country Style Ribs

My friend told me about this recipe from allrecipes.com.  I love the sweetness from the syrup and the hint of cinnamon.  They fell right off the bone.  The changes I made was to double the sauce PLUS one extra tablespoon of maple syrup, because I had more than 1.5lbs of meat (2.7lbs, to be exact).  I also used half of a fresh onion instead of dehydrated.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 pounds country style pork ribs 1 tablespoon maple syrup 1 tablespoon soy sauce 2 tablespoons dried minced onion 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1 dash ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Combine ribs, maple syrup, soy sauce, minced onion, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, garlic powder and pepper in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on Low for 7 to 9 hours.