Trout Stack from Beeve

He cooks a mean hog...but this is one of my new favorites. Here's Beeve's Trout Stack. He left out that this can be served on toasted french bread for a very involved but delish bruschetta. PS I love some of Brian's words. He's so cool:


This is a very involved deal, but it is worth it.


Trout stack

For the casserole:

2 fairly large onions
1 green bell diced
1 red bell diced
10 - 12 speckled trout fillets (if you don't have this, try catfish or
whatever, but it must be a white fish).
Flour
Seas'n up
Butter
Olive oil
Italian bread crumbs
Dill
4 way cheese (or whatever)
Heavy cream (or 1/2 and 1/2).

Julienne the onions and start these at a slow sauté with butter and
olive oil. You want these to be very caramelized (not onion soup
caramelized, but fairly dark). About 10 minutes before it looks like the
onions are going to be done, add the diced green peppers. When these get
soft, turn the pan off and add the red bell peppers (you want these to
stay crunchy). Stir this around and set off to the side to cool.

Dry the trout fillets very well. Sprinkle these with Seas'n up. Salt
and pepper your flour. Dredge the trout fillets in the flour and brown
in butter and olive oil. DO NOT COOK ALL THE WAY, just get them
brown. When you've browned all of the fillets, assemble your casserole.

Get a small but deep casserole dish. You want something that looks
like it will hold the fillets if you stack them at least 2 deep.
Put enough fillets in the bottom of the casserole to cover it up.
Sprinkle with dill.
Cover with onion/bell pepper mixture.
Cover with 4 cheese.
Cover with bread crumbs.
Repeat.
Pour enough cream in until it looks like there is about 1 inch in the
bottom. (Or until it looks like enough, I don't know).
Put in a 350 oven covered for 20 minutes. Uncover and cook another 10
(or broil for 5, whatever). After this, take it out and let it cool
for at least 10 minutes. This keeps it from getting runny.

This is really good over cracker crusted eggplant (my favorite) or
fried green tomatoes (your Daddy's favorite).

Eggplant.

Choose a good round, long eggplant. Cut into 3/4 " to 1" slices on a
90 degree (Like a tomato. You want round pieces). Kosher and cracked
black on both sides.

Take a sleeve or 2 of Ritz crackers and beat the hell out of them (or
if you want to be fancy, use a food processor).

Set up a 3 compartment breading station with:

Flour (the same stuff you used on the fish). 1st
Egg wash. 2nd
The previously beaten the hell out of Ritz crackers. 3rd.

Fry in olive oil and butter. DO NOT use the same stuff you used on the
fish, it will turn too dark.

To assemble:

Set one or two eggplant rounds on a plate, depends on how hungry you
are.
Spatula out a portion of trout stack and set it on the eggplant (Kind
of like you do for lasagna, you want it to stay in layers. That is why
you let it cool).


Eat it. With a salad. And French bread. And a Daddy pop. Or a glass
of Chardonnay.


If you don't have eggplant or a green tomato, try a car bumper. It's
almost just as good.