In the Roberts household, you could track the advancement of trout season by the number of milk cartons piling up in the freezer. My father had decided that the best way to freeze a fish was to float it in a rinsed-out water-filled milk carton. And being a family whose collective palate was only moderately keen on trout, that was often the fate of our weekend catch.
But that didn’t stop Dad and my brother Don from indulging in their passion. Fishing book-ended every day of our outdoor adventures. Dawn and dusk, with rod in hand, we’d troop down to the shoreline by the river (any river) or ease ourselves into the old aluminum boat at the lake (any lake). For the morning excursions, Don was my alarm clock, since his psyche was so naturally attuned to trout behavior. And since I was the eager tag-along, a gentle wake-up squeeze delivered to my toe through the fluffy layers of sleeping bag, was all it took to get me going.
If the fish weren’t biting, then my intense, results-oriented brother’s mood would reflect his frustration. But for my father, fishing was as much about simply being in the outdoors as it was about catching trout. His tackle box always sported the newest and brightest lures, but fancy gear aside, a successful day on the water was guaranteed with the first cast.
And so, for the less-serious among us, my father’s gentle approach to fishing kept life fun and hopeful. And delicious, since cooking trout really can be a tasty experience.
This summer, for the lucky and skillful among you who actually return home with more than fish stories to pull from your creels, the next phase begins: Cooking the Catch. Now this may call for nothing more elaborate than a quick fry in the trusty old iron skillet.
But as the season spins out longer than a spool of 10-pound test line, and cornmeal coatings and grateful neighbors wear thin, some variety is called for. Particularly for the sanity of the cook who, quite often, is not the fisherperson.
As one mate of an avid sportsman once observed: “After a while, all I really want to do is take them out and bury them by the roses.” We’ll assume she was referring to the fish. So before you resort to such spendy fertilizing tactics, why not give the following recipes a try? You may find less of your catch is ending up in the freezer.
This is a great sauce for fried trout. Freshly made, it beats any bottled version:
Classic tartar sauce
1cup high-quality commercial mayonnaise
1/2cup minced dill pickle
3tablespoons minced green onion, including some of the green tops
1hard-cooked egg, peeled and minced
2tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2teaspoons drained and minced capers
1teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4teaspoon salt
1/4teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
Dash of Tabasco (or other hot pepper sauce)
In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, dill pickle, green onion, egg, parsley, lemon juice, capers, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, cayenne and Tabasco. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour for flavors to develop; may be prepared up to two days ahead. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.
Grilling whole fish outdoors on a barbecue results in a crisp skin and moist, tender meat inside. If you use a hinged square metal rack to grill whole fish it makes turning easier.
Grilled whole trout with peppered bacon
4fresh, dressed trout, heads and tails intact or removed
Olive oil
Thyme sprigs
4thick-cut slices peppered bacon
2lemons, cut in wedges
Brush trout lightly with olive oil. Place a thyme sprig inside each fish. Wrap with a strip of bacon. Place in the hinged grill basket and cook over medium-hot coals, until the bacon is crispy and the trout is tender and will flake when the flesh is gently prodded with a fork, about 5 minutes per side. Serve with lemons. Makes four servings.
Once a specialty at this Sun Valley, Idaho retreat.
Trail creek lodge pan-fried trout with caper butter
1cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
1/4cup cornmeal
4fresh, dressed trout, heads and tails intact or removed
Milk
1/2cup clarified butter (see note below)
2lemons, cut into wedges
Caper butter (recipe follows)
Combine the flour and the cornmeal; set aside. Dip the trout in the milk, then in the seasoned flour/cornmeal mixture. Heat clarified butter in a 10-inch frying pan. The butter should be very hot when trout are added. Cook the trout until golden on one side; turn and cook quickly on the other side and transfer to a heated serving dish. Serve the fish with the caper butter slices on top and lemon wedges on the side. Makes four servings.
Caper butter: Mash 2 tablespoons of capers lightly with a fork. In a small bowl, blend together the juice of one lemon with 1/2 cup of softened butter until well blended. Stir in the mashed capers and 2 tablespoons chopped parsley. Wrap the mixture in foil, shaping it into a roll measuring about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Refrigerate for several hours. When ready to use, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices and place 2 slices on top of each hot trout. May be prepared several days in advance.
Alternate topping: Instead of the caper butter, serve with the classic tartar sauce.
Recipe from “Northwest Bounty,” by Schyler Ingle and Sharon Kramis.
Roasting whole fish in high heat crisps up the outside while keeping the flesh inside moist and juicy. For an elegant, boneless presentation, start with trout that have been butterflied and boned.
Roasted trout stuffed with spinach, hazelnuts and blue cheese
1tablespoon butter or olive oil
1cup chopped onion
1teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1bunch fresh spinach, blanched and squeezed dry, or 1 (10 ounce) box frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess moisture
1/2cup toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
3ounces crumbled blue cheese
3tablespoons unseasoned bread crumbs
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4whole trout, dressed, heads and tail intact or removed
1tablespoon olive oil
Arrange a lightly oiled rack in the bottom of a roasting pan.
Melt the butter (or heat the olive oil) in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and saute until soft, about 3 minutes; let cool.
In a medium bowl, mix together the onion and garlic mixture, spinach, hazelnuts, blue cheese and bread crumbs. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Stuff each trout with one-fourth of the spinach mixture. The fish should be plump without bursting with filling. Brush the outside of the fish lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with additional salt and pepper, and place on the prepared rack.
Roast the trout in the oven. (Alternatively, if you have a way to grill the fish using indirect heat, then place the prepared pan with the trout in your grill.) Cook until the fish no longer springs back when gently poked at the thickest part, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven or grill and gently lift each fish from the pan and serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.
Recipe adapted from “Off The Hook – Reflections and Recipes from an Old Salt,” by Roger Fitzgerald and Susan Volland.
Jan Roberts-Dominguez is a Corvallis, Ore., food writer, cookbook author and artist. Readers can contract her by e-mail at janrd@proaxis.com.
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