A River Runs Through It

I chose installment #2 in our pre-vacation movie series for its fly fishing focus as well as and the beauty of the Montana landscape and the Big Blackfoot River. Watching all that casting has to have helped our chances for success fishing the Flat Creek in Wyoming, right?!

A River Runs Through It (1992) is directed and narrated by Robert Redford, won the Best Cinematography Oscar in 1993, and was nominated for two others. The movie tells the story of the Maclean boys, Norman (Craig Sheffer) and Paul (Brad Pitt), centering around their love of fly fishing which was instilled in them by their father (Tom Skerritt). It was an all-around great movie. I've got a new insult up my sleeve--Norman calls his future brother-in-law Neil a "world-class peckerwood". Great.

Movie stills found here.

Movie Rating

Plot: 4.5 stars

Cinematography: 4.75 stars

Acting: 4.5 stars

Average: 4.58 stars

Naturally, we had to have trout for dinner. Now, trout is not a fish I would have typically been drawn to for prepping at home, but it certainly will be from now on. It was affordable and so tasty, and I know it would be good with an even simpler preparation--not that this was difficult in the least.

Trout with Lemons, Capers and Croutons with Roasted Vegetable Tian

Slightly adapted from this recipe

Serves 4

I suggest starting with the Tian. The trout can be started and finished while the veggies roast away in the oven, smelling all delicious.

INGREDIENTS

Trout:

4 TB olive oil, separated

2 slices good-quality white bread, cut into 1/8" cubes

salt and freshly ground pepper

2 brook/mountain trout, filleted

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 TB butter

2 lemons (1 segmented and finely chopped, 1 juiced)

1 TB capers

1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

Tian:

2 zucchini, thinly sliced

2 tomatoes, thinly sliced

2 baking potatoes, thinly sliced

1/4 cup olive oil

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup finely chopped chervil (or sub parsley, like we did!)

salt and freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS

Tian:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush an 8-inch baking dish with olive oil and arrange the vegetables in the dish, alternating rows of the different vegetables. We had great success alternating zucchini, potato, tomato.

Drizzle all over with olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with minced garlic. Bake for 40 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chervil/parsley and more salt and pepper. Serve hot or at room temperature. NOTE: This makes a wonderful left over meal with an over-easy fried egg on top!

Trout:

Heat 2 TB of oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat, and saute bread cubes until golden brown and toasty. Remove to a plate. Season each fillet on both sides with salt and pepper to taste. Season the flour with salt and pepper to taste. Dredge each fillet lightly on the skin side and tap off excess flour. Heat 2 more TB oil in the pan over medium high heat until just smoking. Place each fillet flour side down in the oil and cook until golden brown. Turn the fillets over, reduce heat to medium and continue cooking until opaque.

Remove fillets to serving plates. Add butter to pan and cook until just browned. Add lemon segments and juice. Remove pan from heat, stir in capers and parsley. Top fillets with sauce and reserved croutons.

Dinner Rating

Movie Relevance: 5 stars

Taste: 5 stars

Average: 5 stars--this was a winner!!

There was quite a bit of other food and drink in the movie, including oats, a roast beef sandwich, a ham sandwich with sardines, speakeasys, martinis, gin & prune juice, whiskey, bread and jam, watermelon, chicken salad sandwiches, baked chicken, homebrew, Boilermakers, and a homemade breakfast of bacon, milk, and muffins.