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Pioneer Pan-Fried Trout with Sautéed Mustard Greens

Serves 4

I have the greatest admiration for my trout-fishing father-in-law, but deep down, I am my own father's son, and the trout in my frying pan is much more likely to come from the Idaho Trout Company, a sustainable fish-farming operation, than it is from a mountain stream. The technique, though, is pure pioneer.

4 trout fillets with skin, 6 to 8 ounces each

2 teaspoons sea salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

½ cup stone-ground cornmeal

Olive oil for frying

1 bunch mustard greens, rinsed and shaken dry

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and line a baking sheet with a brown paper bag or a few paper towels to receive the fish as soon as it's fried. Season the fillets on both sides with salt and pepper. Dredge each one in cornmeal, shaking off the excess.

2. Put enough olive oil in a cast-iron frying pan over medium-high heat to make a ¼-inch layer, and when the oil is hot, fry two of the fillets until they are golden brown; then turn and cook the other side, about 5 minutes in all. Put the fried fillets on a baking sheet and hold them in the warm oven while you fry the others. Keep the second round of fillets warm while you prepare the mustard greens.

3. Cut the mustard greens across the stems into ribbons about ½ inch wide. Pour all but about 2 tablespoons of the oil from the pan in which the fish were fried and sauté the cut greens in the remaining oil until they are wilted, about 2 minutes. Splash the apple cider vinegar over the greens and distribute the cooked greens evenly between four dinner plates.

4. Lay one fried trout fillet, skin side down, over each pile of greens and serve at once.

Greg Atkinson, 2006