The Dirty Floor: Trout and Goat Cheese Bites with Spinach and Aged Balsamic

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Trout and Goat Cheese Bites with Spinach and Aged Balsamic

A man walks into a fish and chip shop, with a trout under his arm...
He says to the man behind the counter "Do you sell fishcakes?"
"Yes" replies the man.
"Good" says the man nodding towards the trout under his arm, "cause it's his birthday today!"

Every once and a while it is good to step up your fancyness factor for a week night dinner (or a party). I found that this can be achieved as easily as simply making an extra special appetizer.

We had a piece of leftover trout to cook up and that is definitely not enough for two people to eat for dinner. Although, 1 piece of trout with get you plenty of yummy appetizer bites. We also had a refrigerated pie crust, so I decided to use that for the "crackers". Mmmm, flaky deliciousness.

Here's what you need (makes a total of 15 bites):
1 piece of trout
1-2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 a fresh lemon for juice squeezing
1 refrigerated pie crust
4-ish tablespoons of plain goat cheese
15-30 leaves of baby spinach
2-3 teaspoons of aged balsamic vinegar

Pre-heat your oven to directions on refrigerated pie crust box. Sprinkle a bit of flour on your typical rolling surface and hand unroll 1 disk out.

Take a small round cutter (this one was about 2 1/2 inches in diameter) and cut out circles. I did 15 and used the extra crust for a mini apple hand pie, but you could probably get more than 15 if you wanted too.

Place circles on an un-greased cooking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

While your crackers are baking, pan cook your trout. I heated a pan to high-medium heat with 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil. Rinsed the trout under cold water then patted it dry with paper towels. Sear the fish in the pan with salt and pepper until golden brown.