Paul hasn't had much chance to go fishing this year - the combination of working away and his fishing partner in crime being overseas has reduced the opportunities. But at the start of autumn, as the fish started to get a bit feistier after the summer torpor, they did get out for a throw. And Paul brought home this lovely 5lb creature.
One fillet was cut into tranches. I just seasoned a couple with a bit of salt & pepper, cooked them in a hot pan with a little olive oil and served them with a basil and lemon dressing, tomato & buffalo mozzarella salad and courgette chips. It was moist, juicy and had a lovely flavour - just perfect.
The remaining piece from the fresh fillet went into a seafood lasagne. I cut the flesh into chunks and combined it with some mirepoix (previously cooked and cooled), shredded spinach, undyed smoked haddock and big fat prawns. Then I mixed in some white sauce, layered it up with 
spinach lasagne sheets and topped it with more white sauce and some grated cheese to get the top nicely browned.A 5lb fish is far too much for the two of us to eat fresh, so I cured the second fillet for 2 days in the
fridge, in a mixture of sugar, salt & dill, then hot-smoked it on beechwood chips.I think this was my most successful smoked fish so far. The smoke flavour subtle enough to let the flavour of the fish through, the sugar and salt were well balanced and there was a delicate aniseed tang from the dill.
We ate some of it just on crackers, to test the flavour, and the rest was portioned up and stored in the freezer.
The other night I pulled out a piece and made a pasta dish/ While some angel hair pasta was boiling, I crushed a clove of garlic. While the pasta was drained, I sauteed the garlic in a knob of butter in the pasta saucepan, then added 100ml Greek yoghurt, some boiled and peeled brown shrimp, some baby spinach leaves and some flakes of the smoked trout. I tossed the drained pasta through this mixture until everything was hot, then served it with some roasted cherry tomatoes and salmon roe. The slight tang of the yoghurt, the smoke from the trout, the salty burst of the salmon roe with the sweet-acid burst of the tomatoes and the sweetness of the brown shrimp all came together really beautifully. Totally delicious.
11 comments:
Lucky you! I love trout and the smoked version looks particularly inviting. I don't think I have ever seen such a big one before though!
Oh wow! Do you smoke the fish indoors? (I know nothing about smoking fish.)
Johanna - I didn't know they came that big either.
Su-Lin - I usually do mine outside, but if you have a good extractor fan you can do it inside.
I love the first photo and initially thought it was a clever wall hanging!
That is one gorgeous giant fish! I love smoked trout and it looks fabulous in that pasta and the seafood lasagna is pretty amazing too. ;-)
What a nice dilemma: how best to use a very large freshly caught rainbow trout. Good choices - varied and tasty.
Was there a little morsel for The Divine Miss U?
Cranky - like one of those ones that sing "Don't Worry, be Happy"?
Deb - thanks!
Mother - the divine Miss U was offered and turned her pretty nose up at it.
Yes! Though I wouldn't sing "Don't Worry, Be Happy" with a Global knife under my soft underbelly!
That trout looks great and I like everything you made with it, especially the curing and smoking.
Cranky - that fish wasn't really up to singing.
Simona - thanks! I think smoking your own fish is very rewarding.
You have some lovely ideas on here for the trout, great looking piece of smoked fish - was that over a gas stove?
and your pasta dish sound intriguing and appetising the way you describe it.
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