Friends, do you like foods that are slow cooked in butter until golden brown and cripsy? Then served with a savory lemon caper sauce? If you answered yes, you are going to love this trout piccata with green beans and rice!
Picatta is an Italian dish that is traditionally made with chicken that is pounded thin, dredged in flour, browned, and served with a lemon caper sauce and pasta. Trout makes a perfect pescetarian stand-in for the chicken in this classic dish.
Fish is softer in texture than chicken, and I found that I prefered serving this dish with chewy brown rice instead of the more traditional pasta. The rice still soaks up plenty of the delicious caper sauce.
To round out this easy dinner I added green beans to the dish. Any vegetable would do here but I love the tender-crisp snap of the green beans adding some crunch to my plate.
Tips and Tricks for the Trout Piccata with Green Beans and Rice:
- Meal Prep the Rice: I love to make large batches of rice to use for multiple meals throughout the week. If you try it, it makes this a super speedy dinner. If you cook the rice the night of, it will add 45 minutes of cook time to the recipe.
- Low Heat: I usually cook fish over a high/medium heat so that it cooks quickly and stays moist. I found a medium-low heat much better for this dish so that the butter does not brown in the skillet. It takes a little longer, but the crispy brown results and totally worth it!
- Fresh Lemon: I stock lemon a jar of lemon juice in the fridge, but the fresh lemon here makes all the difference. I always buy a fresh lemon when I am making this dish!
- How to Cook the Green Beans: I love to microwave steam the green beans until just turning bright green. It avoids dirtying another pan, and it is super speedy.
- 4 skinless trout fillets (about ½ lb)
- 2 TBS all-purpose flour
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 TBS butter, divided
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- ½ cup vegetable or shrimp broth
- ½ tsp all-purpose flour
- 2 TBS capers, coarsely chopped
- ¼ of a lemon, juiced
- 1 cup cooked brown rice
- 1½ cups sliced green beans
- Mix together flour, salt, pepper, and parmesan.
- Melt 1 TBS butter over medium low heat in a skillet.
- Dredge fish in the flour mixture and place into the buttered skillet. Cook until golden brown on the first side. Flip fish and add another TBS butter to the skillet. Cook again until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Remove fish from pan.
- Add garlic and remaining 1 TBS butter to the skillet. Saute until fragrant and just starting to brown. Mix in dry white wine and let it reduce in half. Mix together broth and ½ tsp flour. Pour into skillet and bring to a simmer. Let it reduce in half, stirring almost constantly. Turn off heat and mix in capers and fresh lemon juice.
- Meanwhile, steam green beans by microwaving until just bright green, about 1 minute.
- Serve sauce drizzled over the fish with rice and green beans.
This sounds great – have you ever tried it out with a different fish?
Thanks for your question Cheryl! I have not tried it with a different fish, but I imagine it would work well with any white fish. If you try it let us know what you think!