Maple Glazed Trout

I often buy trout from Costco - it comes as two nice fillets that are pretty easy to prepare.  This recipe will glaze two of those fillets (about 1.5 kg).  It can easily be halved if you are planning on making one fillet and freezing the other for another use. (Original recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/steelhead-trout-baked-with-honey-or-maple-glaze-50175385)

This trout pairs nicely with some basmati rice and steamed green beans tossed in salt and olive oil.  You can also sub out the maple for honey with the same results!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp maple syrup (or honey)
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/3 onion, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a glass bowl in the microwave.  Whisk in the remaining ingredients.

2. Place the fish in the centre of a piece of foil.  Pour the glaze over the fish and fold the packet around the fish.

3. Preheat the oven to 400F.  (The fish will marinate while the oven heats up.  This step is not necessary though; you can preheat the oven while you prepare the fish to save time.)

4. Bake for 10 minutes plus 10 minutes for each inch of thickness (ie: a one inch thick fillet would bake for 20 minutes.)  Alternatively, you can subtract 5 minutes from your total cooking time, open up the foil and broil for 5 minutes.

Honey Beer Bread

This recipe has been circulating on Pinterest so I decided to try it one day.  And it turned out so yummy!  When I went back to get the recipe and make it on Easter, the website I got it from was down.  So here is the recipe - I've made it several times and it always turns out so well.  It comes together fairly easily.  The butter makes such a beautiful crust on the bread and adds such an amazing flavour!
So because every time I make it I am asked for the recipe - here it is!

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsbp honey
1 bottle beer (I used Brava)
1/4 cup butter, melted ( I actually use more like 1/2 cup because it adds such colour and flavour)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a loaf pan with non-stick spray.  Cut a piece of parchment to fit the bottom of the pan.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Heat the honey in a glass of warm water for a few minutes to make it easier to stir, then add the honey and the beer to the batter. Mix until all ingredients are blended well.

3. Pour half of the melted butter into the bottom of the pan.  Spoon in the batter, then drizzle the rest of the butter on top.  If needed, spread it with a pastry brush (this gives it a nice golden crust).

4. Bake for about 60 minutes until the top is golden brown and a toothpick/knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Tastes great warm on its own, but it also tastes great with nutella or jam or butter spread over it.  Warm bread and butter is always so amazing!
Although I haven't tried it yet, I'd like to grate some (cheddar) cheese and add it to the batter - I'm sure it'd taste amazing!

A Cheesy Variation: I've made this recipe with the addition of cheese and it turned out pretty yummy too!  Most recently I used cheddar cheese - a mix of aged Balderson cheddar and a medium orange cheddar.  I used about 1-1/2 cups and reserved about 1/3 cup to sprinkle on top before pouring the melted butter over top.

Top: Cheesy variation
Bottom: Standard honey beer bread