Freshly caught speckled trout, pan-fried, topped with a mushroom meuniere sauce:  last night’s dinner was the best thing I’ve cooked in a long, long time.  Meyer lemons picked right off the tree, parsley clipped from the garden, and fish less than 24 hours old…the best of in-season foods, harvested with my own two hands.  (No, not the butter:  my zoning won’t allow backyard cows.)

Meyer lemon mushroom trout meuniere

• 4 fillets speckled trout
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• pinch of salt
• 3 T salted butter
• 6 oz portabella mushrooms, roughly chopped
• juice of 1/2 Meyer lemon (or more to taste)
• 2-3 tsp worcestershire sauce (or more to taste)
• 2 T chopped parsley
• additional 1-3 T butter, if desired

Combine flour, black pepper, cayenne, and salt in a shallow bowl.  Dredge fillets in seasoned flour, shaking off excess.  In a 10-inch skillet, heat butter over high until it foams, then reduce heat to medium-high.  Arrange fillets in a single layer in the skillet; when undersides have browned nicely, turn gently.  Continue cooking; when the second side is golden brown, remove fish to a warm serving platter.  Increase the heat, and add chopped mushrooms to the pan; saute for 3-5 minutes.  Once mushrooms have softened, add the lemon juice.  Cook briefly, stirring and scraping the pan, to reduce the juice, then add the worcestershire sauce and parsley.  Continue cooking until bubbly.  If you don’t give a damn about cholesterol, swirl in the additional butter.  When it stops foaming, pour the mushrooms and pan sauce over the fish.

Note:  I use salted butter, so very little additional salt is needed.  If unsalted butter is used, adjust accordingly.