Archive for March, 2013

Recipe 18 – Indian Spiced Trout Fillets-

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

The long awaited recipe 18 is significantly later than intended but absolutely worth the wait.

The reason for the delay?  A bonanza of home-reared lamb, mutton, pork and charcuterie diverting us from our trout mission.  More on these in my next post, the most exciting development being that Moffat Water Foods will soon be adding hill-reared salami’s, chorizo’s and dried hams to its smoked food entourage.

Indian Spiced Trout Fillets

Indian Spiced Trout Fillets

Indian Spiced Trout Fillets owes its name to Charlie Cannon, fellow trout producer and committed food enthusiast currently researching the possibilities for an Eat Farm Table venture in the UK.  Charlie was visiting us to see the farm, brainstorm food ideas and sample Selcoth salami (possible brand name Selcotta, feedback welcome please) and trout of all varieties; hot smoked, cold smoked, smoke roasted and Indian Spiced Trout Fillets.  It was also Olly & I’s 7 year anniversary (gulp) with flowers and champagne to boot, what more could a girl ask for?
Seven year anniversary flowers

Seven year anniversary flowers

The joy of this recipe is the simplicity, ease of preparation, minimal cooking time and the wonderful way the natural trout flavours are enhanced and balanced by the Indian spices.  This plus the crunchy crust on one side and crispy skin on the other make this one of our top 3 from the Trout Blog so far.

crunchy spice crust

crunchy spice crust

The starting point for this recipe was once again Jane Bamforth’s brilliant book ‘Classic Trout Recipes’ commissioned and produced by the British Trout Association, for more trout recipes see their website www.britishtrout.co.uk.  The only change introduced by me was the addition of new spices to the peppercorn crust but for readers not suffering from my spice addiction I’m sure the pure peppercorn version is equally delicious.

Ingredients (Serves 4 people)

You will need:

x2 trout fillets, approx 200g each

For the spiced crust:
Peppercorns
Coriander seeds
Cardamon pods
Onion seeds
Mustard seeds

delicious Indian spices

delicious Indian spices

For the lemon mash:
Potatoes
Butter
Milk
Lemons
Spring onion
Salt

Plus broccoli or green veg of your choice

Step 1: Make the Indian Spice Crush
First, mix and grind or crush your spices until they are broken up but not too finely grounded.

don't grind too finely

don’t grind too finely

 

Gadgets to the fore once more and a big thank you to my mother for indulging her daughter with a Revel mini-grinder ideal for spices, coffee beans, garlic, ginger, chili and anything else that needs grinding in small quantities.

Revel min-grinder

Revel mini-grinder

Revel grinder at work

Revel grinder at work

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next place your trout fillets skin down and evenly spread your spice mixture across the surface, pressing the broken up spices firmly into the trout.

spiced trout fillets at rest

spiced trout fillets at rest

Leave your fillets to infuse with flavour while you prepare your lemon mashed potato and green vegetables.

Step 2: Prepare your lemon mash
Make your mashed potato as you would normally, adding fresh lemon juice at the same time as the milk and butter.

adding lemon to the mash

adding lemon to the mash

For the actual mashing I start with a hand-masher and then finish with an electric mixer to ensure that there are no lumps.

first the hand-masher

first the hand-masher

then the electrix mixer

then the electric mixer

Preheat a smooth, if possible non-stick, large frying pan with a spoonful of olive oil.  Once the oil is nearly sizzling add your trout fillets skin-side down.  Watch as the transition from deep raw pink to lighter cooked pink rises up through the trout and after 7-10 minutes or once the cooked pink is only a couple of cm from the surface flip the fillets and cook crust side down for a further 3 mins.

sizzling trout fillets

sizzling trout fillets

 

Serve on pre-heated plates (particularly important with mashed potato which cools easily) with a green vegetable of your choice.  I chose oven-baked broccoli as a crispy contrast to the smooth mashed potato.

crispy oven-baked brocoli

crispy oven-baked broccoli

After several presentational experiments I abandoned my plan to serve the spiced fillets on a bed of lemon mash (the bed seemed a bit flat) and instead arranged my mash in a neat swirl between the fillets and broccoli, adding a parsley palm tree as a final touch.

the final touch to spiced fillets

the final touch to spiced fillets

Results:

Ease of preparation: 10/10

Taste and enjoyment: 10/10

Best aspect: the surprisingly crunchy crust