Photo: Pan-Fried Trout with Black-Eyed Pea Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 cups cooked and drained black-eyed peas
- 4 slices bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled, fat reserved separately
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion, about 1/2 medium onion
- 1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
- 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped green onions
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapenos
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
- 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons Emeril's Original Essence, recipe follows, plus more for seasoning
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, plus more for seasoning
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper, plus more for seasoning
- 8 (3-ounce) trout fillets, skinned
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
- 2 tablespoons butter, divided
- Freshly chopped chives, for garnish
Directions
Combine the black-eyed peas, crumbled bacon, 3 tablespoons of reserved bacon fat, red wine vinegar, olive oil, red onion, bell pepper, celery, green onions, jalapenos, parsley, garlic, 2 teaspoons Essence, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl and toss well to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight, stirring occasionally. Allow salad to come to room temperature for 30 minutes and toss well just before serving.
Season the fillets well on both sides with Essence, salt and white pepper. In a shallow bowl or plate, combine the cornmeal and flour. Dredge the fillets in the cornmeal mixture, coating completely. In a 10-inch nonstick saute pan, over medium heat, add half of the vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add half of the butter and half of the fillets and saute until golden, about 2 minutes on the first side and 1 to 2 minutes on the second side. Remove the fillets and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining vegetable oil, butter and remaining fillets, wiping the saute pan, if necessary, between batches.
Serve the fillets immediately, 2 per person, with some of the black-eyed pea salad spooned over the top. Garnished with chopped chives
Review This Recipe
You must be logged in to review this recipe.
or Sign Up to Review
Newest Ratings and Reviews
Read all 2 reviews
By Luckweasel
Montana
on February 18, 2011
Flag
Flag This Review?
Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.
or Cancel
Absolutely delicious! We fish often for trout in the lakes and streams of Montana. This is a lovely and tasty way to cook up some trout! The black-eyed pea salad is easy to make and it pops with so many different flavors. The soft texture of the black-eyed peas and the crunch of the veggies are a wonderful compliment to the crisp, corn meal texture of the fish. Highly recommend.
By brettlevine
San Francisco, CA
on January 01, 2011
Flag
Flag This Review?
Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.
or Cancel
Carnival cruise lines would offer a better trout than this. I followed this recipe carefully, including making the "Emeril's Essence" (quite a disgusting innuendo really. The fish did turn a beautiful golden brown, but what a tragic waste of such a simple (and sustainable creature. Emeril never fails to produce such droning middle-american blech and deliver it in his smarmy plebeian "BAMming". I have nothing against the guy, but I can just picture him taking the box of his dried Essence off the shelf and dumping it on the fish.
The black-eyed pea salad was a bit better on its own, but together with the fish was a worse flavor mashup than a ragga infused love ballad. Like I said I have nothing against the guy but his food tastes bad. That is all.
Read all 2 reviews