Stuffed trout

One of the joys of fishing…is catching!

My husband Ron recently caught a beauty of a lake trout, so I was determined to make the most of the fish.

Lake trout is very similar to salmon, so Ron cleaned it with a plan to stuff it – leaving the skin on, but removing the head and guts. I found the basis for a lemon dill stuffing on allrecipes.com, but modified it to my liking. Portions were modified to suit the size of fish.

I first assembled the ingredients I wanted – besides the fish, I bought a loaf of sourdough bread, and used lemon juice and zest, some dried dill, Old Bay original and Epicure’s lemon pepper Sansel spice. (As a side note, I have purchased all three of Epicure’s Sansel spices and love them not only for their flavour, but because they are salt/sodium free. Herbs and spices only!) The stuffing also featured onions and garlic.

I sliced the bread, and sliced most of the crust off, then broke the bread into small pieces. I did not want to use dried crumbs for this.

I fried the onions in garlic, butter and olive oil. I added the onions to the bread crumbs along with some lemon juice, a small amount of lemon zest, and the spices.

 

I mixed that all up and added a bit of olive oil to moisten the stuffing. (Another side – is it stuffing or dressing? Or both? Cooking dialect dilemma!)

I did not use specific portions for any of this. I kept the lemon zest to a minimum so it would not overpower the flavour. I also watched the amount of dill. And I used enough butter and oil that the bread was a bit moist. Then I did what I always do – taste it! If the flavour isn’t to your liking, adjust. And always start with a little, so you can add to it. It is impossible to take away too much spice once you’ve added it.

I rinsed and wiped the fish, and sprinkled the inside with the Epicure spice. I placed it on a foil-lined backing sheet. Then I pressed the stuffing into the fish, closed it up, and rubbed the fish with some olive oil and sprinkled it with salt and pepper.

I baked it at 400 degrees for approximately 30 minutes. Once again, it depends on the size of the fish. I started at 20 minutes, checked it, and cooked it longer. You don’t want to over-cook, so start at a minimum as you can always add cooking time.

The skin peels off easily, and the meat separates from the bone easily.

Served with some market-fresh yellow beans, this was a great summer treat – fresh fish! I used the leftovers in a trout-salad sandwich, and it would also be great in a fish taco. This recipe would be great with salmon or any other stuff-able fish.