Archive for the ‘Natural (unsmoked) Trout Mains’ Category

Recipe 20 is… Fresh Trout Teriyaki

Monday, May 6th, 2013

Another simple but sumptuous way to enjoy fresh trout fillets and presentationally a meal fit for a king.

To produce a really beautiful end result you will need top quality large D-cut fillets such as those below. Strangely these aren’t as mainstream as the smaller fillets but are increasingly available in fishmongers and some supermarket fish counters.  I’d love to know if your fishmonger/ supermarket supplies them, and if not what their reasoning is.  

Email me at shara@moffatwaterwaterfoods.com with details of your enquiry & response and in return you will receive 10% off your next smoked trout order from Moffat Water Foods (www.moffatwaterfoods.com).

fresh trout d-cut fillets 

To serve x4 people you will need…

Trout Teriyaki
4 large trout fillets
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp rice wine
4 inch section of fresh ginger
4 fresh lemongrass stalks
1 bunch spring onions

Spring Onion Mash
4 large potatoes
1 bunch spring Onions
Ample Butter & Milk
Juice of a whole lemon

Leeks or a vegetable of your choice, ideally with a clean taste to help balance the savoury teriyaki and rich mashed potato.

Step One: Preparation
First prepare the base of your sauce by finely chopping your ginger, lemon grass and spring onions.

trout teriyake ingredients

 

Next season your trout, either with a simple seasoning of salt and pepper or if you feel more adventurous a commbination of other herbs and spices. My enterprising husband found an ingenious product called Herby Fish Rub from Spicentice which is a pre-prepared mixture of coriander, parsley, dill, fennel, garlic, onion, lemon peel and ginger – this is what I’m sprinkling over the trout fillets below – and it worked fantastically. Equally, any mixure of the above or similar herbs and spices would be just as good.

seasoning your trout fillets 

 Step Two: The Sauce

Mix your soy sauce, rice wine and pre-chopped ginger, lemon grass and spring onion in a small saucepan and simmer gently until the sauce has reduced and the consistency is slightly syrupy. Leave to one side.

 Step Three: The Spring Oinion Mash

Peel, chop, boil and mash your potatoes as you would for regular mashed potato, perhaps adding a little more milk than normal to ensure a light and fluffy mash. To save on elbow grease I also finish off with a hand-held electric blender to completely eradicate any lumps and bumps. 

(Note: I did once attempt to push the mash through a sieve but failed dismally; not only did none of the mash want to go through the sieve but I also ended up with more mash on myself and my apron than anywhere else.   Has anyone else had a similar experience?)

Next finely chop the remaining spring onion and gently fry over butter in a non-stick frying pan.

trout with spring onion mash

 

Once soft but not yet browning add the spring onion and lemon juice to the mashed potato. Mix in well and leave to one side.

 

spring onion mashed potato

 

Step Four: Grill the Trout Fillets

Pre-heat a non-stick frying pan with a small amount of olive oil.
Add the trout fillets skin down (you should hear a satisfying sizzle as the fillet skins hit the olive oil) and pour the sauce over the fillets, using a plastic or wooden spoon to pile the chopped ginger, lemon grass and spring onions onto the top of the fillets so that they don’t burn in the saucepan.

teriyake sauce over trout fillets

 

Watch as the deep pink of the raw trout gives way to the lighter pink of the cooked trout as the heat rises up through the fillet (this may take anything from 6 to 15 minutes depending on the heat of your frying pan).

deep pink trout to light pink trout

 

Step Six: Prepare your Vegetables

If using leeks as I did then I would recommend chunky slices and a light steaming to allow the leeks to retain both their shape & texture as well as their clean crisp taste.

trout with steamed leeks

 

Step Five: Serve to Oohs and Aahs

If neccessary re-heat your mashed potato.
Arrange your mashed potato, leeks and trout fillets on pre-heated plates, then spoon your remaining sauce over the fillets. Add a slice of lemon and/or sprig of parsley or coriander for the essential garnish and enjoy each and every mouthful.

teriyake trout served to oohs and aahs

 

Marks Out of Ten

7/10 for ease of preparation
(nothing technical but a fair amount of chopping and I also always find mashed potato takes me longer than expected)

10/10 for taste and enjoyment

6/10 for health and slimming
(mashed potato is never a winner on the slimming front)

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

 

Recipe 17 – A Valentine Special from Valentine Warner (seared trout fillets with mustard lentils)

Monday, February 18th, 2013

What better way to celebrate Valentine’s night than to enjoy a sizzling night of indulgent trout cuisine accompanied by carefully selected Chablis?

Valentine trout Valentine original

And by perfect harmony this recipe comes to us from Valentine Warner himself, crafted and created for the British Trout Association and one of the flagship recipes of the Buy British Trout campaign, a movement close to our hearts and gaining an increased momentum with each new twist and turn of the horse meat debacle.  (See www.britishtrout.co.uk for more delicious recipes and some of the many reasons why we love being part of British trout production.)

Buy British Trout

Ingredients

2 trout fillets (British naturally)
2 bunches of cherry tomatoes, still attached to vine
50g lentils (original recipe uses green, I used red and it was perfect)
2 shallots
1 carrot
1 stick of celery
2 cloves of garlic
120ml white wine
400ml fish stock
Flour, salt and pepper, olive oil, butter

And for the sauce:

Diijon and wholegrain mustard
Parsley, tarragon, thyme
50ml double cream
….

A word on lentils

For anyone squeamish about lentils take heart.  Olly’s default position is lentil adverse but he gave this recipe 10/10.  The combination of the fish stock and mustard flavouring transform the lentils into a sophisticated complimentary backdrop to the natural flavours of the trout, a sublime combination.

Valentine trout lentil heart

Instructions:

Simmer the lentils until soft but not mushy, drain and leave to one side.

Finely dice (and don’t be tempted to use a processor, you want defined individual pieces) the shallots, carrot and celery.

Valentine trout diced vegetable heart

Add the wine and allow to reduce until virtually evaporated then add the fish stock and reduce until only 3-4 tablespoons remaining.  Add the drained lentils, a generous tsp of each of the mustards and cream. 

Valentine trout simmered diced vegetables

Chop the parsley, tarragon and thyme and add to the lentil, mustard, and cream mixture.

Valentine trout enjoying the process

Valentine trout adding herbs

Stir, season to taste and leave to one side.  Remember to pre-heat your plates to ensure the lentil base remains piping hot once served.Place your two bunches of cherry tomatoes in a small baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and salt and bake in a hot oven for 15-25mins until the skins are withered and beginning to brown, timing this so that your tomatoes come out of the oven just before you are ready to serve.valentine trout cherry tomatoes

Now for your trout fillets. 

If using trout fillets from a large trout then you may want to divide your fillet into smaller fillet sections.

Olly preparing trout fillet steaks

delicious British trout

 Mix the flour with salt and pepper on a plate and lower the trout fillets skin side down making sure the skins get a decent coating. 

Olly preparing delicious trout 

Heat approx 25g of butter with olive oil in a non-stick frying pan and just before the butter begins to bubble add the trout fillets skin side down, applying pressure with a plate or wooden spoon to ensure the skin crisps. 

Watch the delicate pink slowly rise up through the richer pink indicating the transition from raw trout to cooked trout and, when you estimate the fillet is nearly cooked through, flip the fillet and cook skin-side up for a further 30 seconds.

sharas valentine trout ready to go

Once the trout is ready, re-heat the lentils and spoon into the centre of the pre-heated plates forming a bed for the cherry tomatoes which you add next, still attached to the stalks.

Finally add the trout fillets – skin side up for maximum effect –  and serve with a chilled dry white wine such as this delicious Chablis.

carefully selected Chablis

As you will hopefully be able to glean from the slightly fuzzy photograph above this is one of the more impressive looking of our trout blog recipes and an absolute winner if you want to achieve that presentation wow factor. (I did forget to serve the fillets skin side up which was a pity but as Olly hadn’t seen Valentine’s original photo I think I got away with it.)

But finally, and most importantly, this is a delicious and incredibly original recipe in its flavours and textures, and one that is absolutely befitting the great British Trout.

Recipe 16 is Pan-fried Trout Fillets with Balsamic Glazed Vegetables

Wednesday, February 6th, 2013

Recipe 16 represents a true trout triumph.  Born & bred on a trout farm and raised on meals consisting all too frequently of trout, husband Olly was somewhat apprehensive about the Trout Blog Challenge.  His primary fear was that a return of excess trout in his diet might re-activate a  childhood apathy towards one of the most versatile and healthy fish products on the market.  That, plus a day-to-day interaction with live trout on the farm, was a worrying combination.

However, I am thrilled and delighted to announce that after a mere 15 recipes Olly’s taste buds and culinary curiosity were sufficiently tweaked to induce him to not only suggest the form and content of recipe 16 but to also to take control of the cooking and the delivery, with a small exception being the trout preparation which was outsourced to me.

The result was a triumph: caper and lemon juice marinaded trout fillets gently fried and served on a bed of balsamic glazed vegetables, with the rich flavour of the vegetables perfectly balanced by the  clean subtle taste of the caper and lemon flavoured trout fillets.

We used fillets from small trout (approx 450g or 1lb each) the filleting of which was a first for me since I usually fillet much larger trout around two or three kilos.  However, with helpful Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s advice at my finger tips I couldn’t go too far wrong and was delighted to have the left over carcass to make trout stock with ready for my next fish pie, trout cakes, soup, or whatever it may be.

helpful Hughs filleting tips

First we prepared the vegetables.   The wonderful thing about doing roast veg is that you can use pretty much whatever you have to hand, with the essential staple being onions.  By lucky coincidence we happened to conjure up onion, aubergine and sweet potato though in a perfect world I might have added green pepper to complete the colour scheme.

trout recipe roast veg ingredients

In order to retain the shape of the onion slices we mixed the diced aubergine and sweet potato with the olive oil, mixed herbs and salt and paper in the roasting dish and only at the last minute added the onion slices – a little trick learnt from Michel Roux Jnr on Tuesday night.  Once the onion slices had been carefully placed we then drizzled the balsamic vinegar over the vegetables and put them into a hot oven for 45 minutes.

trout recipe balsamic veg

Meanwhile Olly was working wonders with his trout fillets by creating a fresh lemon juice, capers and salt and pepper marinade for the trout to infuse for 20 minutes or so while the roast veg slowly cooked away.

Olly marinading trout

marinaded trout fillets

Once confident the roast veg were almost there (if using sweet poato they are usually the final litmus test, in my opinion they are best when crisp and crunchy on the outside and sweet and soft on the inside) we pre-heated a tea spoon of olive oil in a wide non-stick frying pan.  Once the olive oil was hot and almost beginning to smoke we added the trout fillets skin-side down.  We didn’t turn the fillets half way through but instead watched the soft pink colour of the cooked trout miraculously work its way up from the bottom edge of the fillets to the top edge, allowing us to see exactly when they were cooked through and to prevent over-cooking them.

Olly checking the trout fillets

balsamic veg out of the oven

We then simply served the fillets on a bed of the roast vegetables (taking care not to break up the onion slices when handling), added a slice of lemon juice and happily devoured.

pan fried fillet with balsamic veg

Marks out of 10

Ease of preparation:  7/10 – less instant than some of my trout recipes as you do need to prep the vegetables
Healthiness: 6/10 – there is olive oil involved in roasting the veg and frying the trout
Taste: 9/10 – overall a really good recipe, and as requested by some of my fairer paletted readers, not a hint of chilli

Receipe 14 – Malaysian Steamed Trout with a Lime, Coriander and Coconut Filling

Saturday, January 5th, 2013

This recipe, inspired by a traditional Malaysian cooking technique, opens up a whole new world since it completely simplifies the sometimes hazardous process of steaming fish.

img_0443.JPG

You will need two chunky trout fillets (large trout fillets are increasingly available on wet counters in fishmongers and supermarkets), fresh coriander, limes, chilli flakes and desiccated (unsweetened) coconut and a steamer.

ingredients for trout sandwich

A word on steaming

I love steaming.  It avoids boiling all the goodness out of your food, retains moisture and, especially if you are lucky enough have one of those versatile metal flower steamers that you can use in all metal bottomed saucepans, is easy and clutter free.  As such I steam all my vegetables (with the exception of potatoes) and aspire to steam as much fish as possible but usually run into problems either with the fish meat falling apart (in the case of fillets) or the fish kettle being cumbersome to handle (in the case of whole fish).

So imagine my excitement and delight to discover a new way to steam fish without any of these problems, namely wrapping your flavoured fillet in a parcel of baking paper and popping it into your regular flower or saucepan steamer.  Straightforwardly simple and perfect.  You can expect many more trout blog recipes to use this technique.

Back to the actual recipe which as you by now may be guessing is really just a trout fillet parcel packed with a coriander lime and coconut filling.

trout sandwich skin off

First make your filling by mixing together a generous handful of chopped fresh coriander, plenty of fresh lime rind (I used 2 limes for each parcel) and a couple of pinches of desiccated (unsweetened) coconut.   

 

Then make a sauce by adding the juice from the de-rinded (if such a word exists) limes to a tea spoon of olive oil, salt, pepper and a pinch of dried chilli flakes.

 

Next take a square piece of baking powder (large enough to wrap and seal around both fillets together) and place one of your rainbow trout fillets skin down in the middle.  Add all of the filling and drizzle approximately half of your sauce over the top of the filling.  Take your second fillet and place skin up on top of the filling, effectively making a trout sandwich. 

trout filling of coriander lime and coconut

Brush both fillet skins with the remainder of your sauce and fold the parcel up taking care to seal the edges. 

lime juice for trout sandwich

Place the folded up trout parcel in your steamer and steam for 10 minutes before serving on a bed of whatever you feel like; I chose salad to help combat Christmas excess but under usual circumstances I might be tempted by rice noodles and spring onions.

The result is an original, delicate and healthy delight, though I do confess that at the last minute I added some sweet chilli sauce to help make my rocket and water cress bed a bit more interesting.  There is only so much purity one can take.

trout sandwich skin on

Depending upon your preference you can serve with the skin on or skin off.  I think leaving the colourful and glossy skin on produces a stronger visual impact and since the skin peels away so easily it doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of eating.

Christmas Gadgets

Thank you to my family for indulging my gadget obsession.  Starting from left to right we have the super-retro-juicer for when you know you are doing significant quantities (next week’s upload will present juicer junior which is useful for smaller quantities), then the established but under-appreciated de-rinder and finally, brand new to my kitchen this Christmas, the cinco-scissor wonder. 

trout gadget super juicer   trout gagdet derinder   trout gadget cinco scissors

  So if you are ever sceptical of my prep time estimates then perhaps now you will realise how spoilt I am and what a difference they make.

Receipe 8 – Trout meets Vietnam

Thursday, September 6th, 2012

the best ingredients

Receipe 8 was inspired by Hannah Fowles-Pazdro, visiting for the weekend and an expert in Vietnamese cuisine.  With a combination of fresh roots and spices from Morrison’s (amazing that you can get fresh turmeric in Dumfries) and herbs from the garden we set to work – Hannah on the chopping board and Shara at the fish sink.

immaculate chopping

Delicious fresh ingredients immaculately chopped by Head Chef Hannah Fowles-Pazdro.
(Fresh turmeric, ginger, chili, lemon grass, spring onion and celery, plus lemon thyme and curry plant from the garden.)

trout-preparation.jpg

While Shara organised the star of the show, our fresh whole rainbow trout.

p1030635_640×480.JPG

After a brief flash-fry to soften the spices Mr Rainbow was stuffed with love and tenderness and steamed in a fish kettle in the aga.

deliciously fresh

And the result was perfection.  Served with rice noodles and roasted cashews to complete the sensation.

p1030648_640×480.JPG

Marks out of 10:

10/10 for enjoyment of preparation.
10/10 for taste – this is a delicious fresh and healthy meal.
6/10 for ease of preparation, though if we’d capitulated to the electric chopper that would be 8/10.

Recipe 5 = Rainbow trout fillets fried with tomatoes and capers

Monday, April 9th, 2012

Rainbow trout fillets fried with tomatoes and capers

A la Jamie Oliver I hear you say and yes, you are quite right, this recipe was absolutely inspired by Jamie Oliver’s delicious looking rainbow trout fillets fried with fresh cherry tomatoes and capers on his happy kitchen-boat last summer.

Only problem was, we couldn’t find the recipe – so if anyone has it to hand then please send it through to us and we will post it up here.  But all was not lost, Olly dug deep into his memory and between us we produced delicious fillets served with fragrant cardammon rice and fresh green rocket.


First we marinaded the fillets  in olive oil, chopped chili & coriander, capers, lemon juice, salt, pepper and a spoonful of the caper vinegar.
Having paid close attention to Jamie’s demo we fried the fillets skin side down as this creates a protective membrane between the pan and meat and prevents any burning.  We watched with glee as the deep orange of the fillets turned to a light pink indicating that they were cooked, and then happily devoured our trout with the rice, rocket and a glass of white.

Rainbow trout fillets fried with tomatoes and capers

I am delighted to report another success, the capers, chillies and coriander are fantastic trout companions.