Inspired by Colorado
This meal had great, vibrant flavors that made me excited for summer. I’ll definitely be revisiting this one when I have real Hatch chilis, fresh peaches, and river-caught trout on hand!
THE MEAL
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An iconic Colorado meal had to include trout, green chile, and peaches! I was going to make coyote corn and include cantaloupe, too, but didn’t have the time for it. Unfortunately, every component was something that won’t be available to me until later this summer, but I did the best I could with what I had. The result was a beautiful, delicious plate of food that was great even out of season but will be even more amazing when I can revisit it with fresh ingredients!
PAN-FRIED TROUT
Colorado is landlocked and didn’t even have a lot of lakes until European settlers came and created reservoirs and ponds. But what it does have is a lot of rivers, including the Colorado River, which formed the Grand Canyon. Those rivers are full of trout. Fishing is such a huge industry in Colorado that they breed and release 90 million fish into Colorado rivers and lakes each year. So pan-seared trout seemed like a good choice of main dish to represent Colorado!
Cutthroat trout is the only species of trout native to Colorado, but rainbow trout is the most abundant, and conveniently it’s the kind that Costco had in stock. I wish I could’ve fished fresh trout myself. I have lots of fond memories of fishing with my dad when I was a kid. We could catch rainbow trout in the river by my great-grandpa’s cabin, and brook trout in the pond at my other great-grandpa’s ranch in Idaho. My dad would gut and skin them right on the bank, and we’d fry them up for lunch.
That was a long time ago, though, and I don’t own any fishing gear of my own. I never learned how to fillet and cook the trout myself, but I’ve been wanting to learn how, especially because my dad and brothers-in-law still fish all the time but never bring any home to eat because nobody likes to cook it. I’ve been determined for years now to come up with a killer trout recipe I can make for the family after fishing trips, and I think I succeeded! Not only did I learn how to fillet trout, but cooking it was so quick and easy and delicious!
I originally tried to find already filleted trout, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I felt like I could find every other kind of fish, but filleted trout only came in tiny packs for like $50 after shipping. So I bought it whole from Costco and filleted it myself using this super helpful tutorial. Apparently trout doesn’t usually come pre-filleted because removing the bones is harder than with other fish. But this tutorial made removing the bones really approachable, and I was able to do it no problem! My knife skills aren’t great, so the fillets could’ve been prettier, but I was happy to eat it and not find a single bone in the meat!
To cook the fish, I made a simple dry rub of salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, rosemary, and parsley, then dredged the fillets in flour and pan-fried them in melted butter and olive oil. Because the fillets are so thin, they only need a couple minutes per side to become a nice golden brown. Top them with a little lemon juice, and they are delicious. Lighty, flaky, and the skin falls right off if you personally don’t like eating the skin.
Because of finals, jobs, and personal lives, I wasn’t able to get my family together to help me eat this one, and that’s a shame because I think my dad and brothers-in-law would’ve really liked this trout! But I’m glad that I learned how to make it so next time they go fishing, I can bring back the tradition of frying up their catch at the end of the day. This tasted great, but I’m sure it would be amazing with fresh-caught trout.
GREEN CHILE CHEESE FRIES
Apparently there’s a feud between Colorado and New Mexico about who loves green chiles the most. New Mexico kind of wins by default because they grow the Hatch green chilis that everyone is so crazy about. But Colorado’s most favorite food (according to the internet) is without a doubt green chile, and New Mexico had a lot of other foods to choose from. So Colorado is winning the green chile debate for this challenge!
Pueblo Native Americans cultivated green chilis in the southwestern states long before Europeans came along, but today’s favorites are cultivated in Hatch, New Mexico. Sadly, Hatch green chilis aren’t in season until the end of summer. I was going to try to make the green chile myself, but all I had available were Anaheim chilis, and I knew that would do a great disservice to Colorado’s favorite food. Hatch chilis apparently have much more heat and flavor. So, store-bought green chile it is! If I ever find Hatch chilis here in Utah, though, I’ll definitely try to make it myself!
Since I went with store-bought chile, I decided to make the fries from scratch. That was a much more time-consuming task than I expected it to be, even with the oil heated up to 375 degrees. I think if I’d cut the fries shorter and thinner, they wouldn’t have taken so long to fry. But this was a good first attempt at making fries from scratch, if I say so myself!
Once the fries were done, I arranged half of them in a cast-iron skillet, topped them with the green chile and both cheddar and monterey jack cheese, then repeated with another layer and broiled them for about five minutes. Then I topped them with sour cream, jalapenos, cilantro, and lime.
These green chile cheese fries were SO GOOD. I loved them and would definitely make them again! They’d be great to make for Game Day get-togethers. But I’ll probably use store-bought fries next time to save on time.
ROOT BEER FLOAT
I chose the root beer float for this meal’s drink because it was supposedly invented in Colorado! The story goes that Frank J. Wisner of the Cripple Creek Brewery was looking at Cow Mountain and thought to himself that the round, snowy peak looked like ice cream floating in soda. The next day, on August 19, 1893, he combined ice cream and root beer, and the root beer float was born!
I originally wanted to make my own root beer, but I had enough on my plate already. Maybe some other time! There’s not much to say about this except that I haven’t had a root beer float in forever, so making and drinking one was so nostalgic and made my day.
PEACH GALETTE
And now, the pièce de résistance!
Peaches originated in China, but they have been cultivated in the Americas since the 1500s, and have been a popular Colorado crop since the 1890s. They thrive in desert climates, because they need a lot of sun but also have a critical chilling phase that the cold Colorado nights provide.
It really sucks that peaches aren’t in season yet. I had to go with frozen peaches for this recipe, and they worked out great, but I’ll definitely have to revisit this recipe again in September with the real thing! I love fresh peaches.
You probably won’t be shocked to hear this, but this was my very first time ever making a pie crust from scratch. I know, right? It’s one of the simplest things to make, and yet I’ve never done it. So, once again, I’m really glad I undertook this challenge and finally learned something I should’ve learned ages ago!
It turned out to be as easy as advertised and turned out pretty good! I even did the rolling-pin thing, and it was entirely by accident! I was rolling out the dough thinking, “Now, how do they do that rolling-pin thing to get it onto the baking tray?” and the next thing I knew, the dough stuck and rolled up onto the rolling pin all by itself! Problem solved!
After making the basic pie crust, I just tossed the thawed peaches in a little flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt, arranged them prettily on the crust, then folded up the edges in the classic galette shape. It took only 25 minutes to bake, and then I had a gorgeous-looking tart for my Colorado dessert! It was so simple but so tasty, especially when topped with the same vanilla ice cream I used for the root beer float.
CONCLUSION
Once again, I’m blown away by the amazing cuisine I’m discovering thanks to this challenge! I’m still just in the states bordering my native Utah, but I’m already learning so many new cooking skills and trying foods I’ve never thought to eat before. While filleting the fish and frying the fries was more labor-intensive than I expected, every part of this meal was ultimately really simple to put together yet just bursting with flavor.
I hope native Coloradoans will forgive me for using canned chile, frozen peaches, and farmed trout, but this was a great practice round for when I have real, fresh ingredients on hand later this summer. You can bet I’ll be throwing together another galette and pan of green chile fries when I have the opportunity! Thank you, Colorado, for the inspiration!
So how’d I do? Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions for improvement, and be sure to tune in next time for my take on a meal inspired by New Mexico! If that’s where you’re from, what do you think I should make to represent your state? Bonus points if you have reliable recipes or pro tips before I make the attempt! Thank you for reading!