So I went to Ranch Market in Gardena and purchased a 1.5 pound farm-raised trout for under $7.00. Not $7 per pound, but $7 total. Under $7. Had it scaled and gutted and brought it home. Placed it on an oiled broiler pan, sprinkled it liberally with salt, and then popped it in the broiler.
Maybe 10 minutes later, it was toasty on both sides (I flipped it halfway through.) It was so large I had to keep moving the broiler pan around to get it cooked on all sides.
To go with it, I made sauteed spinach--melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a frying pan, add a couple of smashed cloves of garlic and let the butter and garlic get brown and toasty but not blackened, then add a package of baby spinach (dry! from a bag.) and stir it around till it wilts. Crazy good.
I removed the head and tail and then cut along the back bone to create two fillets, and removed the rib bones (yes, there were still a few bones left. When you are eating with chopsticks, bones don't seem like such a big deal.) I poured some melted butter over the fish and a couple of drops of lemon juice. The flesh was silky and delicious. Fantastic dinner!This meal was inspired by a similar meal I had last week at Fork in Chicago. But cheaper, and with a larger fish.
ETA: Another Friday, I made Chirinabe, a kind of Japanese bouillabaisse.
