These of course are just five recipes I like, how about you? Please share your recipes for trout and salmon, my favorite fish!
A final note: My Wife has over a thousand cookbooks, and I am a collector of wild game cookbooks in particular. If you have a favorite let me know. I’m always on the lookout for more. One of our squadron members shared a game cookbook from Mississippi and I was able to find a copy and order one for myself. Thanks DD!
Best,
Steve
Blackened Trout With Spicy Kale
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
5 scallions, sliced (white and green parts separated)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 1/2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
2 1/2 teaspoons light brown sugar
2 15-ounce cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-ounce can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
3 cups frozen kale, turnip or mustard greens (about 8 ounces)
Louisiana-style green hot sauce
4 4-to-5-ounce trout fillets, pin bones removed, patted dry
Lemon wedges, for serving
Directions:
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the celery and scallion whites and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and 1 teaspoon each Cajun seasoning and brown sugar and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Add the beans, tomatoes and 3/4 cup water; bring to a simmer and cook until the liquid is slightly reduced, 10 to 12 minutes.
Stir in the kale and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the scallion greens and a few dashes of hot sauce.
Meanwhile, mix the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons each Cajun seasoning and brown sugar and sprinkle on the flesh side of each fish fillet. Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; add 2 fillets, seasoned-side down, and cook, undisturbed, until blackened on the bottom, 3 to 4 minutes. Carefully turn the fillets and cook until opaque, about 1 more minute. Transfer to plates. Repeat with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil and 2 fish fillets. Serve with the kale and lemon wedges.
Trout Orleans
Ingredients
Flour, to dust
Salt
White pepper
2 eggs, beaten
Clarified butter
3 ounces fresh breadcrumbs
2 (1/4-pound) trout fillets, skin on
2 medium bananas, peeled and cut in 1/2 lengthwise
1 (4-ounce) tomato, cored and thinly sliced
1 lemon, rind and pith removed, pulp sliced into thin rounds
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 egg yolks
4 ounces salted butter
1 tablespoon chives, finely chopped
Directions
Season flour with salt and pepper, to taste. Mix eggs and 2 tablespoons clarified butter to make egg wash. Season with salt and pepper. Coat each fillet in flour, then egg wash, then breadcrumbs. Shake to remove excess.
Heat clarified butter in large baking dish over medium-high heat and fry fish, turning once after 2 minutes. Add bananas alongside fish and cook, turning once. Cook fish for 4 minutes on second side. Remove from pan and place on flameproof platter, garnish with bananas and tomato and lemon slices. Season with salt and pepper. Preheat broiler.
Pour lemon juice in double boiler and stir in egg yolks. Season with salt and pepper. Add 2 ounces fresh butter to egg/lemon mixture and whisk until smooth, careful not to overcook. Stir in remaining butter to finish sauce and add chives.
Meanwhile, broil garnished fish for 4 minutes until brown. Serve immediately, napped with sauce.
Elle’s Panko-Crusted Trout
Ingredients:
4 (about 6-oz.) Trout filets
1c. flour
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c. Japanese panko breadcrumbs
2 T. oil for frying
Lemon wedges to serve
Directions:
Season fish with salt and pepper. Place eggs, flour, and breadcrumbs in separate shallow containers.
Dip each filet in the following order: Flour, eggs, and then breadcrumbs.
In a 10 inch skillet heat oil, the lighter the better, until shimmering hot.
Place filets in oil and fry turning once until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Do not overcook.
Makes four servings.
Smoked Trout From David Smith At WideOpenSpaces
Steven Rinella says that he typically smokes smaller trout up to 14 inches in length. Here's the ingredient list for his brine:
Ingredients:
¾ cup kosher salt
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup honey
8 cups lukewarm water
6 whole trout, up to 13 inches long, gutted, gills removed
1 (8-inch) length cotton kitchen twine for each fish, tied into a loop (optional)
Directions:
Although Rinella uses a Weston smoker, you can use any smoker or even turn your grill into a smoker. All you really need is a space big enough to hold the fish - either suspended or laying flat - and a chamber to slowly burn (or smoke) your chosen wood.
Dissolve all of the ingredients together and chill. Completely submerge the cleaned trout in the brine, and weigh them down with a heavy plate. Let them soak for at least six hours in your refrigerator.
Then, remove the fish and pat them dry. Lay them on a rack in the fridge for two or three hours until they harden up a bit and feel tacky.
Get your smoker ready and preheat it to around 170 degrees. Use a wood that will lend a flavor you prefer to the fish. Suspend or lay the fish flat around a foot from the smoke source, and make sure that they aren't touching one another.
Start checking the fish after three or four hours. The fins will be dry and firm and the skin will be easy to peel away from the flesh. Get out the crackers and beer and enjoy!
If you start early this entire process can easily be completed in less than a day.
Trout Meunière / Amandine - From The Paupered Chef Via Julia Child
Ingredients:
1 small river trout, butterflied or pan-dressed
flour for dredging
salt and pepper
2 tablespoon neutral oil with a high smoke point, such as grapeseed
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon fresh-squeeze lemon juice
small handful finely chopped parsley
1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional)
Directions:
Meunière means "Miller's Wife" and there are a number of theories to the origin of this name for flour-dredged fish. My favorite is that the miller's wife, preparing lunch, had so much flour on her hands from the mill that it transferred to the fish. Turns out, flour does wonderful things for the crust of the fish
Rinse and dry the fish thoroughly. It needs to be as dry as possible to that you can brown it well in the pan. Liberally sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper and dry again.
Put some flour in a shallow bowl and dredge the fish in all sides so that it's completely coated, then shake off any excess.
Put a skillet with room for the whole fish to lay flat over high heat. Add the oil and heat until the pan is absolutely smoking hot, the oil is shimmering, and the fans are on. This is a quick cooking process, and it needs to be raging hot.
Tilt the skillet away from you so that the oil doesn't splatter, and lay the fish, flesh-side down, in the skillet. Cook over high heat until a golden crust has developed on the flesh side, about 3 minutes, then carefully flip and cook for another minute skin-side down. Most of the cooking will happen on the flesh side to develop that crust.
Carefully remove the fish to a plate and tent with foil, or place in a low oven. Pour out the hot oil and allow the pan to cool down for at least a minute--if not, the butter will burn.
Add the butter to the pan over medium heat and allow it to melt, swirling it around often. Add the almonds, if using, and cook until the milk solids in the butter begin to turn golden and then brown. It should smell nutty and delicious, but be careful, as they will go from deep brown to black when you're not looking, and then you have to start over.
When the butter is close, add the parsley, which will sizzle and sputter. To stop the butter from browning further, add the lemon juice and take off the heat. Transfer the fish to a plate and spoon the sauce over it.
Devour immediately.