Spring Cooking!

Hi everyone- This is technically my first post. Justin does such a great job summarizing Annie Bananas that I never feel the need to add to anything. But this past weekend, the first in five weekends that we've been home, I thought it would be a great forum for me to use as an outlet for food and cooking it. So many times I make something I really like and never think about it again. This way I can share my ideas, techniques and recipes I come across that I really like.

This past weekend was perfect Spring weather and all I could think about was cooking the perfect Spring dinner. Something simplistic and gorgeous so I dragged Justin and Annie to Whole Foods with nothing in particular in mind, which is my favorite thing to do. Whole Foods had one aisle that really interested me. It consisted of local organic vegetables that looked like they could be in a magazine. I decided on leeks, carrots, and fava beans. To compensate the cost of the produce I picked trout fillets that were on sale. I finished the purchase with lemons and basil. Now one of my favorite challenges about cooking is finding great looking ingredients and figuring out how best they all go together. Tonight's dinner was grilled trout with sauteed spring vegetables.
Grilled Trout:
2 Trout Fillets
1 Lemon and its zest
salt
pepper
chopped basil

About 15 minutes before I wanted to put the fish on the grill I rinsed the fillets and patted them dry on paper towels. Rub on the salt and pepper, lemon zest, basil and olive oil. Frankly, grilling fish scares me. I've found if you buy the Reynolds Release aluminum foil, you can lay it down on the grill and cook the fillets over top. They don't stick at all and it doesn't make your grill stink. Since the fillets were thin, I cooked them on each side for only 3-5 minutes a side. Trout is a thin fish but this recipe could be used with any fish. Salmon would take longer because it's obviously thicker. Once the fish comes off the grill, squeeze lemon juice over it. I swear you don't need any sauce.

Sping Vegetable sautee

Baby Spring Carrots
Leeks
Fava Beans
Basil
Lemon Zest

There are no measurements here because this method is for any vegetables you can find and that are fresh. I decided to pre-cook the carrots and beans beforehand so when the fish went on the grill I could throw the vegetables in the pan to warm them back through. Plus, I actually cooked them when Annie went down for a nap and set them aside until dinner. "Pre-cooking" means boiling them in water for a few minutes to soften. The carrots went in for about 3 minutes.
(Fava beans are a different story. They take a bit of time but are so worh it. They taste like butter when cooked correctly. Fresh fava beans come as bean pods and have to be shelled. Then put them in the boiling water, after the carrots come out, and cook for 2 minutes. Believe it or not, they have to be shelled once more. The boiling loosens the skin on the actual edible part. You need to peel the skin off the bean. I admit it was a lot of work for not much, but I am one of the few that enjoy the process, subsitute regular peas and it would be great.)

Once the fish was on the grill, I sauteed the leeks in a bit of olive oil and added salt and pepper, until soft. Then I added the cooked carrots and beans. I finished the dish with lemon zest, chopped basil and a small pat of butter (it was Saturday night!).

I'm telling you this simple dinner made my weekend. It looked beautiful and tasted really fresh. Oh and did I mention that I found homemade garlic bread at the store for 99 cents??

Anyway, it feels good to share a dinner I enjoyed so much. Most of the time, I just call my mom to share my excitement. It's nice to finally write it down. I actually wanted to write about two dinners I made this weekend. Since I didn't realize how much I had to say about the first, I'll save the second for later. Bye!