Trout eggs. Poor man's caviar.

Recently at work on the Tesco fish counter we have been encountering the brilliantly orange eggs (roe) of the rainbow trout as we gut and clean the fish for customers. I haven't had the 'guts' to actually eat any as caviar but have been impressed by their super shiny appearance. They are like little golden jewels. There are plenty of recipes for their preparation and eating on the internet and they are often spoken of as poor man's caviar. Try Pinterest too for recipes. The ones in the image below are some I photographed from trout I gutted at work.

Generally,with most caviar type products methods of preparation vary. The female roe is harvested, rinsed to remove the egg membrane, lightly salted, drained of excess liquid then packed. Many are also pasteurised to extend their shelf life by a few months. Most eggs are soft and translucent with a salty taste and grainy texture.

The Japanese enjoy the roe of the flying fish. It is called Tobiko and the delicacy is fast gaining international recognition. Like the trout roe it is naturally golden and although the flying fish roe can be served as a stand alone dish it is most often used as a garnish to sushi.

Stuffed whole rainbow trout cooked in butter

Well I say 'stuffed' in the title above. I'd say more like a mixture of chopped green ends of a bunch of spring onions, chopped mushrooms and flaked almonds all pushed into cleaned gut cavity. I do like my fish whole whenever possible and especially the trout. I first came across trout way back in the 1980s and I had started to visit Germany for holidays. There it is known as die Forella and eating out on my own, often at lunchtime in half empty restaurants on the Rhine and Mosel (not both at the same time) I took a shine to this beautiful river fish and its earthy taste and succulent orangey-pink flesh.

So yesterday I fished one bought a week ago from Tesco out of the freezer and left it in a bath of cold water to defrost. Once restored to death I scored the flesh three or four times to slip in some butter and pushed the chopped ingredients into the fish's belly. When all was in place I gave it a good blast of black pepper and popped it in the oven for three quarters of an hour on gas mark six.

In the meantime I boiled a few new potatoes and when all was ready added a few tasty capers to the plate and Bob's your trout!

Let's Get Fishy! Sprats, rainbow trout and swordfish steak.

As the lavender in my garden seems to get more intensely purple with each downpour of rain followed by the most intense sunny spells so my cooking turns towards lighter summery foods and fish in particular. Part of my job is working on a supermarket fish counter so why not. I like to pass on my successes to my customers as well.

Over the last few days I have cooked and enjoyed tiny salty fried sprats, a rainbow trout cooked in peppery rounds of butter and today a slice of creamy swordfish steak simply cooked with minted new potatoes and frozen peas. The mint came fresh from garden but tends to go yellow quite quickly so I catch it whilst young and fresh.

Sprats

The sprats were tiny and my first time advice would be: buy them new caught when they are stiff fresh. To prepare you just need a small sharp knife to remove the heads and preferably a sharp pair of scissors to cut into the belly and your fingers only to put out the guts. The usage of the scissors helps to create a clean cut and doesn't tear the fish skin as much as a knife might. They take about ten minutes to fry. I had mine with patatas bravas and some spare lettuce leaves and black olives. I was so hungry by the time the patatas bravas were finally done that I practically threw the lot into and bowl and gorged myself. I have an abundance of basil leaves at the moment. The plant on the windowsill just keeps on growing so a few fragrant leaves seem to grace practically every meal I have right now!



Fried sprats and patatas bravas and salad





Yesterday I cooked a whole rainbow trout on offer at Tesco for only £2 each. I cleaned it at work. Well why make a mess in your own kitchen when you can take out the guts and gills cleanly at work? See, dear reader, you don't get this kind of choice working in an office!

 "I say, could you just fax over this document and de-scale and gut a sea bass for me while you are at it please George?" I think not.

This was cooked in free rings of butter and I made up a kind of stuffing (which ended up in a separate bowl) from a mix of finely chopped garlic bulbs, crushed pistachio nuts, Chopped and de-seeded on the vine tomatoes, a bag of steamed spinach with a raw egg and bread crumbs to bind it. I just kind of  made it up as I went along with things I happened to have in the house at the time.



The finished (and if I may say so) most delicious rainbow trout and spinach and pistachio stuffing I have ever cooked! One average sized trout is just enough for one person and the cooked flesh pulls easily from the bone and has a slightly earthy taste. The butter helps to keep it moist. Cooking time is approx three quarters of an hour on a medium heat 160 electric of gas mark 6.

 

Finally, this afternoon I made my friend Nicola drool over some internet chat as I told her I was cooking a swordfish steak and new potatoes and peas. I have never had swordfish before and although on the pricey side it certainly was scrummy with a creamy mouth feel. It worked well with the simple additions of the potatoes and peas and fresh with leaves from the cottage garden.

 

Peas upon the fish cookers for they shall inherit the washing up.

 

 

 

#Tesco

#Fish

#cooking 

A cold cooked trout salad and stir fried sirloin steak with noodles.

Cold cooked trout salad? Like a lot of good things this simple dish came about by accident. I had planned to eat an oven roasted trout for my tea with some new potatoes and green beans. I was cooking late in the evening and by the time it had cooked I wasn't in the mood any more. So I decided to let the fish cool and eat it the next day. Actually it sat in the fridge in its little foil sleeping bag for 36 hours. I don't like to waste food so I pondered what I could do with the cold fish rather than throw it away. Also I have become an convert of Tesco's tinned mixed bean salad so I combined the two and it made a very nice supper. Yes, I did have to pull a few fine bones out of the rainbow trout but the effort was worth it. And look at that lovely fishy smile.

The sirloin stir fry came about because of a special half price offer at Tesco tempting me to buy a deliciously lean sirloin steak for my evening meal. Looking for a different angle I decided to stir fry the meat and added a small half teaspoon flourish of chilli powder at the end of the stir fry cooking to add a little heat. The noodles took no time at all and made use of something I happened to discover at the back of my cupboard. This was a very tasty dish that I certainly intend to make again.

Trout in paper? Truite en papillote?

Trout in cooked in paper with fennel and lemon? Yum. Well that was the starting point. Then I got concerned that the baking paper would catch fire 'donc' so I abandoned ( French abandonnez) le project de cuisine and decided to do my own thing, whatever that would turn out to be. Something easy I thought - tasty and easy.

So I bought three stiff fresh rainbow trout from the fish counter at work and gutted, de gilled, cleaned and washed them myself. They are on offer at the moment so the cost was cheaper than normal. I also got some free butters with the fish and my choice was garlic and pepper butter. Even the words hot butter and pepper combined make me salivate!

Once home I poured myself a glass of wine. Yes I know it is red and white would normally go with fish but I wanted red so that is what got poured. Comprendez?

So - a quick meal - ready within an hour- all made on the hoof - as you English say. Cow obsessives! No wonder we call you Les Rosbifs! Une blague! Calmez vous!

Wash fish and put two in the freezer for another day.

Chop flat leaved parsley and make a parcel and insert into fish gut cavity along with the butter. Wrap up in silver foil parcel if wimpish about paper parcels. Cook on medium heat for half an hour, baste with peppered butter and leave foil open for the trout to brown and finish cooking for ten minutes.If you want particulars - Gas Mark 6 or 150 Electric.

Now at this point I thought along these lines: Could I be bothered cooking couscous/rice/new potatoes/ pasta to go with the fish? Non!!! Pas du tout!  I was tired so I looked in the fridge and low and behold some lovely on the vine tomatoes and mozzarella became quickly sliced and arranged made the dish perfect. Et Voila! C'est tout!

 

 

This simple and very tasty meal was just what I needed and one I would happily cook again or create a similar dish based on a cooked trout. Maybe next time I will even brave the paper cooked version!

 



Rainbow Trout for tea

I want to start adding in more fish and shellfish to my blogs and my diet. So, tonight I simply pan-fried some trout fillets in sunflower oil and ate them with some new potatoes and green beans. Yummy!

Rainbow trout

Light pink flesh with a subtle flavour which is lean and white when cooked and easily flaked.

The North American rainbow trout was introduced into Europe at the end of the 19^th Century. It grows quickly and is farmed extensively. In European waters, farmed fish rarely grow bigger than 22lb. It can be cooked whole or as fillets. Its very fine bones can be difficult to locate.

Eat

Cooked: Pan-fry, bake, grill, roast.

Preserved: Hot and cold smoked. Salted roe.

Flavour pairings: Classical French: white wine vinegar, butter, lemon, chives, almonds, hazelnuts.

Classic recipes: Trout with Serrano ham; trout in breadcrumbs; trout with almonds; truite au bleu; potted char.