You’ve caught a few; now what to do?

Shootin’ n snaggin’ with the Frugal Fisherman

Over the last few months I’ve written about everything from worm beds and pond fishing to various bait and tackle. During this time my approach to fishing has changed. Where I used to understand fishing as a mere sport, I’ve grown to value it more of a means of subsistence.

An avid gardener in search of increasingly sustainable means of food production, somewhere in the past year I decided I’d turn my hobby into a way of utilizing fish as an excellent source of protein. My plan was, and is, to stock my freezer with as much fish as I can catch, clean and freeze over the next few months, thereby increasingly removing myself from the industrial food grid, all while eating better food and saving a few pennies along the way.

The only problem was I had no idea how to cook fish other than frying or baking them. So over the past month I started to experiment with a myriad of different recipes. These are recipes for trout because I already have some 20 plus in the freezer, pulled from the cold waters of the Dix River. Of course, I also love trout’s gamey, more intense fish taste.–and they are easier to clean and prep than most fish with scales.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love a crispy fried trout as much as the next man. And there are few healthier ways to eat fish, or any meat for that matter, than baked. But if you’re eating trout three or four times a week, you need variety or you will burn yourself out quick. By no means is the following list of recipes indicative of the very best ways to prepare and eat trout. They are simply a wide range of delicious ideas on how to add variety.

Four Dix River rainbow trout cleaned and ready for the dinner table.

A time tested method with a twist or two added

Ingredients for four people:

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups flour (I use rice flour but you can use whatever you have at hand)
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 2 cups white cornmeal
• 4 whole rainbow trout, head on, gutted
• 8 tablespoons peanut oil (vegetable if you prefer)
• 2 lemons
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (or almonds if you prefer)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place flour in a medium bowl and generously season with salt and pepper.
3. Whisk eggs and milk in a large bowl and lightly season with salt and pepper.
4. Place cornmeal in a medium bowl and generously season with salt and pepper.
5. In a large skillet pour and heat 8 tablespoons of oil over medium heat until oil is almost smoking.
6. Lightly season both sides of each trout with salt and pepper and dip each into the flour, then the egg mixture, then the cornmeal.
7. Sauté each trout until golden brown on both sides.
8. Transfer the four trout to a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 5 to 6 minutes.
9. Zest and juice both lemons, separately reserving the zest and the juice.
10. While the trout are baking, melt the butter in a nonstick, sauté pan over medium-high heat. Watching carefully and lowering the heat if necessary, allow the butter to foam and turn golden brown. Immediately add the lemon juice and zest. Salt and pepper to taste.
11. While the butter is still foaming, add the pecans and parsley to the pan. Do not allow the butter to burn or it will be unusable.
12. Place each trout on four dinner plates and pour the pecan-brown butter over the top.

Serve the pecan-fried trout with a side of sautéed garlic and swiss chard (or whatever green is in season) and a fresh baked baguette. Be careful to let your friends know there are bones still in the trout.

Always a healthy option and a great way to free up time for other food items

Ingredients for four people:

• 4 whole rainbow trout, head on, gutted
• 4 pieces aluminum foil about 16×16 inches
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 lemons, sliced crosswise
• 8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced, divided
• 8 sprigs fresh rosemary, divided
• 8 sprigs fresh Italian parsley, divided
• 8 sprigs fresh mint, divided
• 8 sprigs fresh marjoram or oregano, divided
• 3/4 cup dry white wine

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Rinse fish well inside and out and pat dry with paper towels.
3. Place a trout in the center of each square of aluminum foil.
4. Rub each trout with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil on both sides, then generously season each both inside and out with salt and pepper.
5. Stuff the cavities of each with lemon slices, 2 cloves of the sliced garlic, and 2 sprigs each of the rosemary, parsley, mint, and marjoram.
6. Fold all of the edges of the foil upwards to create a bowl-shape, then drizzle each with 2 tablespoons of the remaining olive oil and 3 tablespoons each of the white wine.
7. Fold the top and side edges together tightly so that each is completely enclosed in an airtight package.
8. Place the pouches on a large baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the trout are just cooked through and flake easily when pierced with a fork.

Serve the baked trout immediately in large shallow bowls with the collected juices drizzled over the fish. A great side for this dish is scalloped potatoes with rosemary, or some freshly sliced tomatoes from the garden, and some toasted brioche or wheat bread. Be careful to let your friends know there are bones still in the trout.

In my opinion it’s hard to beat any meat grilled or smoked and trout is no different

Ingredients for four people:

• 4 whole rainbow trout, headless, gutted
• 2 lemons, sliced crosswise
• 1 stick salted butter
• 1/4 cup chopped dried dill
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 large, free range eggs
• 1/4 cup canola oil

Directions:

1. Start your coals out on one side of your grill keeping the other side free for indirect cooking. Be sure to return grill grate and cover. You want the grate searing hot.
2. While the grill is heating melt your stick of butter.
3. Add dill to melted butter and whisk thoroughly.
4. Once coals are good and hot brush the indirect side of the grill generously with canola oil.
5. Place each trout belly side down making sure to butterfly out the sides.
6. Brush each trout with melted butter and dill mixture and recover grill.
7. Every two minutes or so refresh each trout with the melted butter and dill.
8. Beside each trout grill each of your lemon slices until they are golden and slightly toasted on both sides.
9. After roughly four minutes or so remove trout from grill and allow each to come to rest and cool.
10. Reapply canola oil to indirect side of grill.
11. Return each trout to grill placing them on their sides this time. The idea here is to slightly crisp each trout’s exterior.
12. Remove trout and immediately place each skin side up on a plate. Drizzle each one last time with the melted butter and dill mixture. Lean several grilled lemon slices on both sides of each and allow trout to come to rest, or cool. While cooling pour remaining canola oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Fry each of the four eggs individually until over easy. You want the eggs to be able to run. Place one fried egg on top of each trout and crack the center letting the yoke run over the trout and grilled lemon slices. In effect what you’ve created is a tasty, pseudo version of hollandaise. My favorite vegetable with this dish is grilled or steamed asparagus. But most any vegetable either steamed, sautéed or in a salad will do. I like a baked yeast roll with this dish so you can sop up the hollandaise.

Of course, in no way is the above list of three recipes exhaustive when it comes to preparing trout. There are literally hundreds of approaches and techniques. Hopefully these provide a stepping stone to others. As a matter of fact, if you have any great recipes for trout or any other fish, please send them to frugalfisherman@hotmail.com.

Until next time eat more fish and make an effort to implement more sustainable and local forms of food.

I hope to see you on the water,

FF