[redbeerd cantu]

Got hired for a tasting menu gig. I'm going Mediterranean, as I have much experience and would love to play around with the basics that I've learned.

How about an advieh/panko crusted pan-seared trout with a caper-dill aioli?

I can try this soon, but am curious as to how the advieh would play against the capers and dill, and if anyone's tried this combination before.

Peace

 

[french fries]

That doesn’t sound very Mediterranean?? And no I don’t think the advieh would work with the aioli. Pick one or the other but I wouldn’t marry both.

I think you’re trying to do too much. Mediterranean food is fairly simple. You wouldn’t have cinnamon with capers with dill with garlic with turmeric etc...

For example a pan fried trout (forget the breading, just lightly floured), deglaze the pan with lemon juices, capers and maybe sprinkle with Panko that was fried in olive oil, maybe some fresh parsley.

 

[cheflayne]

Instead of caper-dill aioli, what about a sumac preserved lemon aioli?

 

[sgsvirgil]

I don't think they have trout in the Mediterranean, do they?

@french fries is spot on, I think. Med food is very simple.

Try using a more substantial fish such as cod or if feasible, halibut. Place the fish in a pocket made with parchment. Add blanched, young white or red potatoes largely diced, diced tomatoes, diced onion, sliced Kalamata olives, salt/pepper, cumin, fresh ground coriander see (toasted first), cayenne pepper, capers, a couple crushed cloves of garlic, lemon zest and a pinch of cinnamon.

Close up the parchment pouch and bake @ 350'f for about 30 minutes or until the fish is flaky and the potatoes are tender.

Good luck.

 

[sgmchef]

Hey redbeerd,

Have you tried it yet?

I think it could work if you have a real delicate hand on the advieh. But I always think there is a way to make unusual combinations work though! This is a little further out of the box to make me comfortable but, until I tried your presentation, I won't condemn the flavors.

A favorite treatment of mine, with Capers, is pressing out excess liquid, "frying" for 4-5 minutes in Olive Oil at 250F until they open and lose more moisture, without browning them, then putting on paper towel in 250F oven for 30 min. Nice garnish with the open, uncolored look, and concentrated flavors. Works for me at least...

Sounds like a fun event! I hope you can find time to post the final menu, and the photos that the waitress/bartender/dishwasher will take too!

Good luck!

 

[Pat Pat]

I agree that your menu is not sounding very Mediterranean at all.

 

[someday]

I agree, I think the cinnamon and cardamom, tumeric, etc would not go great with the caper/garlic aioli. There are, however, a lot of med. chili peppers that might be nice in a breading or coating...Aleppo (or at least, Aleppo style as I don't think you can get true Aleppo pepper powder right now), Espelette pepper, even Turkish Urfa Biber might work.

I don't think they have trout in the Mediterranean, do they?

Try using a more substantial fish such as cod or if feasible, halibut.

Halibut and Cod are no more native to the Med. than trout...?? (I assume you weren't talking about salt cod, which, while not native, has at least a long tradition?)

Listen, I think trout is fine. If you do it with a med. flair and are inspired by the flavors I have no problem. I also don't see how he's "trying to do too much" when he's literally said 2 things that will be on the plate. I agree that the advieh is not the right spice for the dish, but I think trout and lemon/garlic/caper sounds fine.

I've done brown butter aioli's several times before, that might be a good base flavor for the capers and trout.

I do think that you'll need more on the plate, as I don't see some aioli and a piece of fish on a plate as a "course." What is the rest of your menu?

 

[cheflayne]

I don't think they have trout in the Mediterranean, do they?

Actually brown trout are native to the Mediterranean Sea.

 

[cheflayne]

Sub the advieh with ras el hanout to appease the food police :~)

 

[flipflopgirl]

I don't think they have trout in the Mediterranean, do they?

@french fries is spot on, I think. Med food is very simple.

Try using a more substantial fish such as cod or if feasible, halibut. Place the fish in a pocket made with parchment. Add blanched, young white or red potatoes largely diced, diced tomatoes, diced onion, sliced Kalamata olives, salt/pepper, cumin, fresh ground coriander see (toasted first), cayenne pepper, capers, a couple crushed cloves of garlic, lemon zest and a pinch of cinnamon.

Close up the parchment pouch and bake @ 350'f for about 30 minutes or until the fish is flaky and the potatoes are tender.

Good luck.

By the time the potatoes are tender the fish will be mushy from all of the liquids released by the veg.

My SOP with trout is to keep it simple...usually just lemon and a light dusting of salt and white pepper.
My Persian mentor took me to many family functions and introduced my palate to the food of his homeland.
The side dishes blew me away.
Simple honest food seasoned with a sophisticated hand.
One of favorites was a advieh scented rice dish.
Addictive.

mimi

 

[jimyra]

Tomatoes
shallots
capers
basil, fresh
garlic
olive oil
lemon juice
Chop first 5 ingredients. Mix with oil and lemon juice. Spoon over fish filet
and broil or bake.

I really enjoy this in summer with the fresh basil and home grown tomatoes. It is good on almost any fish.

 

[sgsvirgil]

By the time the potatoes are tender the fish will be mushy from all of the liquids released by the veg.

mimi

Hence, blanching the potatoes.

I make this dish all the time and the bag plus the ingredients help protect the fish.

 

[sgsvirgil]

I agree, I think the cinnamon and cardamom, tumeric, etc would not go great with the caper/garlic aioli. There are, however, a lot of med. chili peppers that might be nice in a breading or coating...Aleppo (or at least, Aleppo style as I don't think you can get true Aleppo pepper powder right now), Espelette pepper, even Turkish Urfa Biber might work.

Halibut and Cod are no more native to the Med. than trout...?? (I assume you weren't talking about salt cod, which, while not native, has at least a long tradition?)

I know cod and halibut are not native to the Mediterranean. That does not mean, however, these fish cannot be prepared in a "Mediterranean" style. Since the OP suggested trout, which is not something that frequents many plates in that region either, I suggested those species of fish because they hold up well and turn out beautifully when cooked in parchment.

If the cooking method is literally anything other than a parchment, then, trout is perfectly fine.

I simply made a suggestion. Try the dish. I would be more than happy to provide the actual recipe that I brought back with me from Jerusalem.

 

[someday]

I know cod and halibut are not native to the Mediterranean. That does not mean, however, these fish cannot be prepared in a "Mediterranean" style. Since the OP suggested trout, which is not something that frequents many plates in that region either, I suggested those species of fish because they hold up well and turn out beautifully when cooked in parchment.

If the cooking method is literally anything other than a parchment, then, trout is perfectly fine.

I simply made a suggestion. Try the dish. I would be more than happy to provide the actual recipe that I brought back with me from Jerusalem.

I just thought it was weird that you said "They don't have trout in the Mediterranean, do they?" and then proceeded to suggest two fish that they also don't have in the Mediterranean. And trout can be prepared in a "Mediterranean style" just as easily as cod or halibut.

 

[cheflayne]

How about an advieh/panko crusted pan-seared trout with a caper-dill aioli?

I can try this soon,

Peace

So, did you try it? If so, what are your thoughts? What else are you thinking about for the menu?

 

[koukouvagia]

The general idea of Mediterranean food is to keep things simple wth transparent flavors that allow the proteins to shine. The heavy Persian spicing is not quite Mediterranean.

Most Greeks would be horrified if you put anything other than salt and freshly squeezed lemon juice on their fish. Anything more and they claim that they can’t taste the fish anymore. This is extreme but is the basic idea of Mediterranean philosophy.

 

[sgmchef]

All,

I would love to take two years to drive from Morocco to Spain along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Then do a Mediterranean tasting menu from each of the countries! Of course, it goes without saying, that I would exclude any North African and Middle eastern food...

Right?

 

[capricciosa]

Aioli is very typical in Mediterranean cuisine (Spain, Provence, Malta, Sicily), as are capers and dill. Advieh is Persian/Caucasian, but there are plenty of similar Eastern Mediterranean spice blends for fish (masgouf, etc), so I think it would work well. The caper-dill aioli is essentially a sauce tartare/remoulade, and plenty of sauce tartares have gherkins pickled with cinnamon. Sounds delicious to me.

Also, I disagree with the idea that Mediterranean food is simple and light. Lasagna, pastitsio, moussaka, paella, cevirme, etc. are all Mediterranean and heavily spiced and very hearty. Mediterranean cuisine isn't inherently heavy or light, it's just a way of combining flavors & foods native to a certain region, not an ideology. I also think sometimes people (not specifically anyone here, just in general) are a little too ethno-centric about the Mediterranean and completely ignore the substantial Middle Eastern/Islamic influence on Mediterranean cuisine and focus too heavily on one or two very small parts of the European Mediterranean.

 

[koukouvagia]

Aioli is very typical in Mediterranean cuisine (Spain, Provence, Malta, Sicily), as are capers and dill. Advieh is Persian/Caucasian, but there are plenty of similar Eastern Mediterranean spice blends for fish (masgouf, etc), so I think it would work well. The caper-dill aioli is essentially a sauce tartare/remoulade, and plenty of sauce tartares have gherkins pickled with cinnamon. Sounds delicious to me.

Also, I disagree with the idea that Mediterranean food is simple and light. Lasagna, pastitsio, moussaka, paella, cevirme, etc. are all Mediterranean and heavily spiced and very hearty. Mediterranean cuisine isn't inherently heavy or light, it's just a way of combining flavors & foods native to a certain region, not an ideology. I also think sometimes people (not specifically anyone here, just in general) are a little too ethno-centric about the Mediterranean and completely ignore the substantial Middle Eastern/Islamic influence on Mediterranean cuisine and focus too heavily on one or two very small parts of the European Mediterranean.

Whoever said light, that wasn't me. I said transparent. And Mediterranean flavors don't exclude heavy spices, but they are always controlled, never unleashed.

 

[capricciosa]

Whoever said light, that wasn't me. I said transparent. And Mediterranean flavors don't exclude heavy spices, but they are always controlled, never unleashed.

I know. I said I was speaking in general about how the general populace and lots of food writers/chefs talk about Mediterranean food, not about anyone here specifically. I know we have different opinions on lots of things, but I also know you're very passionate about food, and I love reading your posts even when I disagree.