Trout… you mean the fish that my uncles caught every summer on our family trip in the mountains? The one that smells potently fishy? The one that made my cousins giggle as they cut it open with a pocketknife to watch the guts squirt out?
I’m not making you want to read this post, sorry. I just have trout baggage.
If it’s not abundantly clear already, I trust Alison’s taste, even when I don’t always agree with it. Even so, her trout recipes, of which there are several, have been on my “make once and never again” list from the very beginning. I wasn’t at all excited about making her mom’s trout. I did, however, have leftover sourdough to make the herby breadcrumbs – which is how this all began.
Using my food processor, I pulsed my last few sourdough slices into breadcrumbs. I then mixed them with melted butter, chopped parsley and thyme. Seasoned with salt and pepper, I scattered them over the trout fillets and popped them into the oven for 10 minutes, until the crumbs were bubbling from the butter and the fish was just cooked through. Trout filets are very thin, so they take no time at all.
I found my trout at Trader Joes, though I could only find it frozen. I chose to let it thaw in the refrigerator, starting in the morning. The scent was quite fishy, just like I expected, but the fresh breadcrumbs and lemon juice did a nice job tempering the scent so it didn’t overpower the meal.
Based on this experience, I’ll give trout another try. I won’t, however, be gutting it myself like my uncles do. No way, Jose.
64 recipes cooked, 161 to go.
with red wine risotto
