Seafood Choucroute

Name: Seafood Choucroute
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: french
Ingredients: 2 ounces slab bacon, diced; 8 sea scallops, patted dry; 1 cup chopped white ends of leeks; 4 cloves garlic, sliced; 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and cut in 1-inch dice; 1 smoked trout, skinned and boned; 1 cup gueuze, kriek or other sour beer, preferably blond; 1 1/2 pounds sauerkraut, drained and squeezed dry; Salt and pepper; 12 small (2-inch) white potatoes, peeled; 12 mussels, scrubbed; 2 fresh trout fillets, about 6 ounces each, skinned; Juice of 1/2 lemon; 1 tablespoon chopped tarragon

By Florence Fabricant

Total Time: 1 hour
Rating: 4(24)
Comments: Read comments

Bold, bracing sour beers like gueuze, kriek and lambic will slice right through a meal from aperitif to cheese, stymied only at dessert. They’ll stand up to fat, juicy pork and will welcome all sorts of seafood, like clams and oysters, smoked salmon, grilled bass, and skate in a saline caper butter. You also cannot go wrong with the Alsatian sauerkraut classic, choucroute garnie. But consider making that dish a clever showcase for fresh and smoked fish, with the typical pork at a minimum. Years ago, I loved the fish choucroute at Au Crocodile in Strasbourg, France, with a dry riesling. Back then, who knew from sour beer?

Featured in: Brews as Complex as Wine

or to save this recipe.
Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
Subscribe
Share
Print Options
Include recipe photo

Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

2ounces slab bacon, diced
8sea scallops, patted dry
1cup chopped white ends of leeks
4cloves garlic, sliced
1Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and cut in 1-inch dice
1smoked trout, skinned and boned
1cup gueuze, kriek or other sour beer, preferably blond
1½pounds sauerkraut, drained and squeezed dry
Salt and pepper
12small (2-inch) white potatoes, peeled
12mussels, scrubbed
2fresh trout fillets, about 6 ounces each, skinned
Juice of ½ lemon
1tablespoon chopped tarragon

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Preparation

Step 1
Place bacon over medium heat in a 4-quart stovetop casserole that can go to the table. When lightly brown, remove and reserve, leaving fat. Raise the heat to high, add scallops and sear briefly on both sides. Remove. Reduce heat to low, return bacon to the pan, add leeks and garlic, and cook until softened. Stir in the apple, cook about a minute, then add the smoked trout, broken into chunks. Add beer, bring to a simmer, stir in sauerkraut and season with salt and pepper. Tuck scallops into sauerkraut. Cover and simmer 20 minutes.
Step 2
Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil for potatoes. Simmer until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and return to the pot. Cover to keep warm.
Step 3
Tuck the mussels into the sauerkraut around the edges of pot. Cut the fresh trout in 2-inch pieces and place on top of sauerkraut. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Cover and cook about 6 minutes, until mussels have opened and fresh trout is opaque. Scatter with tarragon and serve from casserole with potatoes on the side.

Ratings

4 out of 5

24 user ratings

Have you cooked this?

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Comments

There aren’t any comments yet. Be the first to leave one.

Joseph Doakes1 year ago

I like choucroute; I like all of the kinds of fish in this recipe; cooked it exactly as specified, and both my wife and I thought the combination of flavors in the final stew were quite a mismatch, as if they couldn't figure out what they were doing in the same dish. We didn't finish, and I won't be making it again.

Jennifer Rollison1 year ago

after all that time in the oven, those scallops will be rubber.

Private comments are only visible to you.