I got some frozen pecan-crusted trout fillets from the grocery store, and
I'm drawing a blank as to what I should serve with them. I figure on just
brushing them with melted butter and baking them, but I'm not entirely sold
on that idea. I want the side dishes to complement the fish, but I have no
idea what *would* complement the combination of pecans and trout.

My first inclination was to serve it with a mixture of white and wild rice,
with steamed broccoli as a side dish. But "ho-hum" keeps popping into my
head at that thought; it's too much like a TV dinner. I Googled for "pecan
trout" and found that there are plenty of places serving pecan-crusted
trout, but most of the meal combinations didn't appeal: "Latin rice and
black beans" kept showing up as an accompaniment, but that doesn't sound
very good. Nor does "vegetable medley and shoestring potatoes." I found a
recipe for pecan-crusted trout with an orange-rosemary sauce, but that seems
a little contrived. I see Commander's Palace serves "Pecan Crusted Fish
Creole seasoned and topped with a petit green salad and spiced pecans;
finished with crushed corn cream and Creole meunière sauce ," but I'm not
sure I'm in the mood for that particular combination. Another New Orleans
restaurant (Oceana) serves pecan-crusted trout with jambalaya and
unspecified "sauteed vegetables." And I found a restaurant menu which
contains "Baked Pecan Trout, baby spinach, artichokes, red onion, feta & red
wine vinaigrette, with potato wedges." No, that doesn't meet my needs,
either.

To me, pecan-crusted trout is associated with a specific geographic area,
which is enclosed by the NON-coastal areas of Georgia, South Carolina,
Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Naturally, all
those places make great barbecue, but I had a bad restaurant experience
involving dandelion greens, sweet potato hash, pan-fried catfish, and
barbecue sauce: I discovered that they do *not* go well together, and I
surmise that barbecue sauce would be equally out-of-place with pecan-crusted
trout.

Should I make a sauce for the fish? What would accompany the fish better
than rice and broccoli?

Okay, as I'm wrote the last paragraph, I thought of cornbread muffins with
apple chunks inside, and it seemed to fit, so I'm going to make that. Any
suggestions for vegetable accompaniments? Green beans with bacon, maybe?

Bob