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!