Now I don’t like fish . . .

but for months I’ve had this bag of frozen pollock fillets in the bottom of the freezer, and for several weeks I’ve been thinking “I really need to think of something to do with that fish before it’s all freezer-burned and ruined.”  And there the matter sat.  As did the fish.

Until tonight, when I decided I was by-god going to DO something about it.  I went rummaging in Meal-Monster, and found a nice-looking recipe that involved sautéed trout fillets, and seemed like it’d translate from trout to pollock all right.

As it turned out, I was right. It worked VERY well, and created something that I’d willingly make and eat again . . . and I don’t much like fish, so if I liked it enough to consider making it again, it must have been good!

TRUITE AUX NOIX DE PÉCAN EN SAUCE CRÉOLE

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons Creole seafood seasoning

1 cup flour
6 6-ounce trout fillets
1/2 cup clarified butter (ghi)
OR
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup margarine
Lemon wedges

PECAN BUTTER
1 cup shelled pecans
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

CREOLE MEUNIÈRE SAUCE
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups fish stock
Salt, to taste

Black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Prepare the pecan butter and Creole meunière sauce; set aside.  Combine the eggs and milk, beating until they are well blended.  Combine the seafood seasoning and flour on waxed paper or in a pie plate; dredge the fillets in the seasoned flour, coating well on both sides.  Dip the fillets in the egg-milk mixture, then again in seasoned flour.  Melt the clarified butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Place the fillets carefully in the skillet; sauté them quickly, turning only once, until crisp and golden brown on both sides, about three minutes per side.  Arrange the fillets on a warmed serving platter or on plates.  Top each fillet with a heaping teaspoon of pecan butter, coating the entire fillet; sprinkle with a heaping tablespoon of reserved chopped roasted pecans.

Pecan butter:  Spread the pecans on cookie sheet and roast in a preheated 350 F. oven for 10 minutes.  Coarsely chop half the roasted pecans and reserve for garnish.  Put the remaining pecans in a blender or food processor container.  Add the butter, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce; blend until very smooth.

Creole Meunière sauce:  Heat the oil in a heavy skillet; remove from heat and add the flour.  Return the skillet to the heat and cook, stirring, until the roux is a medium brown.  Slowly whisk in the stock; bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and simmer for 45 minutes.  Add the salt and pepper.  Transfer the sauce (there should be about one cup) to a two-quart saucepan and bring it to a quick boil.  Whisk in the softened butter and Worcestershire sauce; continue to whisk until the butter is absorbed.  (You’re making an emulsified sauce; thorough whisking to create the phase is essential.)  Add the lemon juice and parsley; whisk again briefly and remove from the heat.  This sauce should be used within 45 minutes from the time it is completed; else, it is liable to break.

L said it was good with the pollock, but would have been even better with trout, which has a tad more flavor of its own than pollock (a Long John Silver’s standby) does.  M claimed she didn’t like it, but she still finished off the fillet we served her.

The Janeites photographed a reinvigorated Depression glass jellyfish.  Fnord.