Steelhead Trout with Curried Zucchini Noodles

Ann loves zucchini noodles. I'm pretty ambivalent about them, but she really seems to love them to the point where she asked me to buy a turner for our home kitchen. Long before the "zoodle" craze, we were turning squash and lots of other vegetables into noodles at the restaurant. We often turned raw beets to toss with arugula and goat cheese in a wonderful and unexpected salad.

With our primary farmers market closed for the season now, our selection of vegetables is really hit or miss, but if there is nothing better looking at the grocery store, the summer squashes always seem to be decent looking.

Quick Dinner: Steelhead Trout on Curried Zucchini Noodles

The other night I was looking for a dinner that I could pull off in 15 minutes and armed with two zucchini and 3/4 of a pound of steelhead trout, I decided to make Ann's favorite form of zucchini as an accompaniment to the fish.

Annie Helps Turn the Noodles

So many people blanch zucchini noodles in water, but in most cases, I think that this is a fail. It only seems to dilute the noodles. If they are going in a sauté, I prefer to put them in raw. It takes almost no time on the heat to cook them through.

For this dish, I started half a sliced onion going in a large skillet and once they it translucent, I added the the zucchini and a large spoonful of very fresh Madras curry powder. In less than two minutes, they were on the plate as a base for the fish.

I don't really use pre-prepared spice mixes in my cooking, but I have a weakness for yellow Madras curry powder. I know that it is not in any way Indian or even authentic, but it has a flavor that brings back memories of my mother's (fairly not good) chicken curry and of one of my favorite quick noshes, Singapore noodles.

Pinot Noir for Pregame

As we were turning the noodles, we opened a stellar local Pinot Noir. McKinlay is unknown even to most people locally, yet they consistently produce some of the most amazing Pinot in Oregon.