I’ll begin this blog with my restaurant history.

The 31 years operating Hudson’s on the Bend Restaurant did not just happen.  I have cooked and operated restaurants for the last 50 plus years of my life.   I lived and breathed many years working in other people’s restaurants and it was a long fruitful learning process. So let’s start at the beginning.

It all began when I was 16.  My folks built a weekend home in Lakeway in the 60’s.  I got a summer job in Lakeway as the head hamburger flipper at the “Beef n Bun” also known as the “Beef n Barf”.  It was located at the top of the marina tram in Lakeway, Texas.  The restaurant was seasonal and was only open from Memorial Day till Labor Day. It was a no brainer burger & malt shop and it took me no time at all to figure out the routine and work in time for my true passion…water skiing.  Ski all day & party at night with some burger flipping squeezed in my busy schedule. This was a theme I kept healthy for way too many years.

Back home in Houston, Texas while I went to high school I worked at the Rice Hotel at Main St. & Texas St.   I worked weekends in the decorating department.  The decorating department started at the top floor of the hotel & we worked our way down to the first floor, redecorating each room ….. new carpet, beds, lamps everything. When you got to the first floor the cycle began again…back to the top. I did not see the full cycle as it took about five years to complete.  But I did get a fascinating and in depth exposure to the back of the house operations of a large hotel.  Between my work experiences in Austin & Houston I became interested in the hospitality biz & ended up at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The hotel & restaurant School had just begun & it was a culinary waste land, but it kept me out of Vietnam. My first college summer job I found myself living in a crappy studio apartment on Live Oak Street near downtown Dallas and working at the Fairmont Hotel during its grand opening.  The Fairmont was a BIG deal….only the best.  Max Snallinger was the gm & Hans Plunkee was the executive chef. I was working with the food & beverage controller. Our office was near the receiving dock & main storeroom. I had full run of the hotel & it was fascinating. After three months of that it was back to OSU and the books.
I soon realized that hotel & restaurant educations were not well taught by books but best acquired with a “hands on” learning approach.  But there was that Vietnam thing hanging over my head so that kept me in school.  The draft lottery was based on your birthday & mine was in the very high 200’s and I was assuredly not going to war.  Boom, with that guarantee of freedom, I was gone the next day, no more Oklahoma State University.  Off to Colorado I went & on to the next adventure.

Colorado was where I first was introduced to expensive restaurant food. My education in gourmet food had begun.  Before I continue with my stories about my culinary education I want to give you the my most requested recipe the “Hot & Crunchy Trout”.  This recipe came from my sous chef at Hudsons on the Bend Restaurant, Courtney Swenson. It is great on trout, but I’ve used it on chicken, shrimp, avocado, snails etc.  It is three recipes, but worth the effort. It will make you a culinary rock star among your friends.

Hot & Crunchy Trout atop a mango jalapeño aoli topped with ancho paint.

I highly recommend making the Ancho Paint and the Mango Jalapeno Aioli days in advance.

Serves 6

Ancho paint (it’s really a spicy aoli)

Ingredients

1/2 cup ancho purée … to make ancho purée destem & deseed 5 ancho peppers & soak in 1 cup of warm tap water. With a blender on high, puree the mixture.
1 cup of mayonnaise
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of red onion
2 jalapeño
Juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup honey

Method
Place all ingredients in a blender & spin on high until smooth ( 3 minutes). Store in squirt bottles. It will hold for weeks in the frig.

Notes….most good grocery stores will have squirt bottles. I remember when we had at least 20 squirt bottle on the cooking line to finish our food when our executive chef said “stop the madness”.   Becky was referring to the vast array of squirt bottles.

 

Mango/jalapeño aoli

Step #1 of the mango/jalapeño aoli starts by making a batch of mango/jalapeño sauce…..you can freeze the extra…..here goes.

Ingredients
3 cups of mangoes (1/4” dice)
1 & 1/2 cups sugar
3 oz. of rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons diced garlic
3 tablespoons diced red onion
3 tablespoons of diced jalapeño
1 teaspoon sea salt

Method
1. Combine mangoes, sugar, vinegar, garlic, onion & salt in a saucepan.
2. Simmer 10 minutes, cool & stir in jalapeños

To make the aoli combine cooled mango sauce, 1 cup of mayonnaise, 1 bunch of chopped cilantro & the juice of 1 lemon.  Chill.

Hot & Crunchy Trout

Tools
Food processor with S blade
Large skillet 14” for sauté
Sheet pan (cookie sheet)
3 pie pans for breading station
Spatula for flipping fish

Ingredients
3 ruby red trout (6 filets)
1/4 cup almond slivers
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 cups corn flakes
1/4 sugar
1 & 1/4 tablespoons red chili flakes (less if you don’t like heat).
1 tablespoon salt (I like sea salt)
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup Rice flour (I avoid gluten whenever possible)
6 tablespoons butter or oil (for sautéing the fish)

Process
1. Toast almonds & sesame seed until light brown on a cookie sheet in a 350 oven. Then cool.
2. Combine almond, sesame seeds, corn flakes, red chili flakes, sugar & salt in a food processor with the S blade & pulse until mixed. Do not over process.
3. Mix milk & eggs together to make egg wash.
4. Set up your standard breading station …. first dish – place the rice flour…. second dish – egg wash…. third dish – hot & crunchy mix.
5. Pass the trout though the rice flour …. shaking off the excess rice flour, next pass the trout though the egg wash & on to the hot & crunchy mix. Lightly press the hot & crunchy mix onto the trout (use the palm of your hand. Set aside on a cookie sheet & repeat until all trout is breaded
6. In the sauté pan heat the butter or oil to just before the smoke point… about 350 degrees. Place the breaded fish into the preheated pan. Cook until golden brown (about 3 minutes). Flip & cook the other side. Repeat until all trout is cooked. Place cooked fish on a cookie sheet & hold warm in a 150 degree oven until you plate it.

To the plate:
Place a generous amount (about 3 tablespoons) of the mango/jalapeño aoli on the plate.  Place the trout on top of the aoli.   Stripe the top of the trout with the ancho paint. It’s best to use the squirt bottle to apply the ancho paint, but you can use a spoon.