Pan-fried rainbow trout, beetroot risotto and kale

First post. How exciting!

Before I begin with the recipe, I should note I mostly cook for my partner and I after work most days of the week. I'm not precise with ingredients as I tend to cook savoury by ear, so I apologise for my ingredients list if the exact quantities are not clear. I am also not a chef and have had no cookery training, I just watch a lot of cookery shows and read a lot of recipe books.

I was really craving fish this evening, so I ordered some rainbow trout from my vegbox supplier Abel & Cole. I originally wanted a whole trout to sit under the grill with some lemon and a potato salad. But my partner isn't very keen on fish as he hates having bones in his mouth (ironic that he doesn't know how to clean fish bones given his father is a fisherman), so out went the whole trout option. Instead I went for the fillets. I still had to do some pin-boning but the whole dish only took 40 minutes to cook and prepare.

Ideally, I would have put some dry vermouth or dry white wine in, but I didn't have any this time. I don't think it made a difference on the flavour and I didn't want the risotto to overpower the star of the dish- the trout.

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 Rainbow Trout fillets

1 medium raw Beetroot, cubed

1/2 cup Arborio Rice

2 Shallots

1 clove Garlic

Chicken Stock (I used 1 Kallo Organic Chicken Stock Cube as I didn't have any fresh stock pre-prepared)

handful of Kale

grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1 tbsp Creme-Fraiche

Cooking Oil

Salted Butter

Thyme

Salt & Pepper

Recipe

Pin-bone fillets, dry skin with paper towel and season.

Heat stock. Heat cooking oil in pan and add beetroot, shallots, thyme and garlic.

Add rice and stir until coated. Start adding stock to cook the risotto. It usually takes me 7/8 ladles of stock to cook my risotto the way I like it.

4 ladles in, chop kale and put in heatproof dish. Poor boiling water over it. 6 ladles in, strain kale, add a bit of butter and season.

6/7 ladles in heat frying pan. Add a bit of cooking oil and place fillets skin-side down onto frying pan. Add butter to baste flesh side.

Add parmasean, creme fraiche and check seasoning of risotto.

Check fillets, skin should be crispy and should not stick to the bottom of the pan. Flip fillet and cook for 10 seconds.

Assemble dish.