This recipe was created to pair with Fort Berens Riesling Reserve 2021
Poached Wild Trout with Sumac Salt and Kombucha Marinated Apricots
Serves 2
The thing about catching a fresh fish to eat for dinner is that you end up having to work with what you’ve got when creating your meal. Not that this is a bad thing! Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be substituted for similar items. For example, feel free to substitute kombucha with white wine.
Poached Trout:
About 2 lb of freshly caught trout, filleted (feel free to substitute other white fish)
Kombucha and Ginger Court Bouillon:
- ½ lemon juice
- 1 c kombucha
- ¼ c ginger juice (substitute 2” of ginger sliced thin)
- ¼ bunch of fresh thyme (other herbs like mint, cilantro, oregano are also nice)
- 2 pinches of sumac salt
- water to cover
Make the Poached Trout:
Place fish fillets into a glass baking dish. Heat oven to 300 degrees F. Pour over the lemon juice, kombucha, and ginger juice. Add enough water to nearly cover the fish. Throw some sprigs of thyme over the fish and sprinkle with sumac salt. Cover with a piece of parchment paper and seal up with aluminum foil. Place into oven for 15 – 20 mins.
Marinated Dried Apricots:
- ¾ c diced dried apricots
- ¼ c ginger kombucha
- Soak dried apricot pieces in kombucha while the fish is poaching.
Fresh Greens:
Arugula, spicy micro-greens or mustard greens go really well with this dish and this wine, adding a little bit of pungency to offset the sour-fruity court bouillon and marinated apricots.
Shred the greens and toss in Tahini and Sumac dressing.
Tahini and Sumac Dressing base:
- 1 c tahini
- 1 c yogurt
- 1 lemon
- 1 t salt and sumac blend
- Touch of garlic powder
- ¼ c sesame oil
- black pepper
Mix all together well. It is worth it to double this recipe as this will last for a week or more in the fridge and is delicious with all kinds of greens (bok choy, asparagus, kale, spinach). You can use it as a dip or add more sesame or olive oil to use as a dressing for salads.
Fresh Herbs:
- ¼ bunch spring onions or chives, chopped
- sprig of mint, torn or roughly chopped
- sprig of cilantro, roughly chopped
To serve:
Place the arugula on the plate and put the fillet of fish over the greens. Sprinkle over the fish about ½ Teaspoon of sumac salt. Place a scoop of the marinated apricots beside the fish. Place Bok Choy to one side of the fish and top with Tahini and Sumac dip. Sprinkle over everything the freshly chopped herbs and serve with Fort Berens Riesling Reserve 2021.
Side:
Steamed Baby Bok Choy with Tahini and Sumac
Steamed Bok Choy:
4 baby bok choy (cut in half and wash)
Place in steamer for about 15 mins. When it is cooked you can either serve whole, or you can give them a quick rough chop. Top with Tahini and Sumac dip.
I normally fry my fresh caught trout with butter and garlic, but when I tasted Fort Berens Riesling Reserve 2021 I knew poaching the trout with a lightly fruity, pungent, sour, ginger court bouillon would create titillating flavor combinations. I would have used the wine itself in the court bouillon but I had a batch of green ta kombucha on hand that had fermented a little too long and was sour yet fruity. This turned out to be an amazing match for the fish with the wine. Also using the kombucha to marinate the dried apricots was delightful. Again a touch of wine could be used for this if you don’t have kombucha on hand. The apricots really added something special to the dish and enhanced the wine paring as well.
Sumac is a spice used frequently in Arabic cooking. It is a little sour and subtly spicy and goes well with all kinds of foods. I like to use sumac salt on my popcorn in place of lemon pepper. I also use it in deserts like white chocolate cheesecake or even over vanilla ice-cream. It goes well with apricots, fish, tahini and wine.
