Trota Imperiale
You’ll never lose a friend (or a customer!) in New Orleans serving him or her something that involves putting lump crabmeat on top of speckled trout. Though a member of the bass family, rather than a true trout like rainbow, the “spec” is a true emperor pulled from local waters. Thus the big deal we make of it here.
Ingredients
- Lemon Cream Sauce
- Lemon Juice - 1/2 cup, freshly squeezed
- Dy White Wine - 1/2 cup
- Worcestershire sauce - ½ teaspoon
- Whipping cream - 3 cups
- Salt - 1 teaspoon
- White Pepper - 1/4 teaspoon
- Fish Marinade
- Speckled trout - 4 fillets
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- All Purpose Flour - ¼ cup
- Vegetable Oil - ½ cup
- Butter - 2 tablespoons
- Jumbo lump crabmeat - 1 cup
Instructions
Prepare the Lemon Cream Sauce, following the directions carefully to keep the lemon from curdling the cream. Combine the lemon juice, wine and Worcestershire in a skillet and reduce by ½. Remove from the heat. In a separate skillet, reduce the cream and season with salt and pepper. Whisk the lemon-wine mixture into the cream – don’t try it the other way around. Keep the sauce warm.
Combine the marinade ingredients and marinate each fish fillet about 1 minute per side. Season with salt and pepper, and dust lightly with flour, shaking off excess. Heat the oil in a large skillet and sauté the fillets until lightly browned on one side. Turn them and set the skillet in a preheated 400-deghree oven for 6 minutes. Melt the butter in a separate skillet and sauté the crabmeat about 2 minutes, being careful not to break up the lumps. Incorporate the Lemon Cream Sauce. Serve the trout with sauce spooned over the top.
