Maz's Place: The Unexpected Trout, and How To Approach It

As I mentioned in my last post, my good friend S was kind enough to phone me up and offer me a spare, VERY freshly caught, trout. Even more kindly, she actually delivered the glorious offering! It was fresh as. Still stiff as a board, clear and bright of eye, and in need of very little in the way of being buggered about with.

Being an entirely unexpected trout, I also didn't have obvious in the cupboard with which to tart it up - which was very good news as I may otherwise have been tempted.

So here, in a nutshell, is what I did with it. I pass this information on in case you, too, should ever be the recipient of an unexpected, but by no means unwelcome, trout.

First, you will need to gut your fish. This is neither difficult nor unpleasant. I know that may come as a surprise, but provided that your fish is nice and fresh, fish guts just aren't that smelly. Disappointing, eh?!

So, incision down its front, hand in, guts out. They'll be attached to the fish up the top end, so you can snip them out with scissors, or just slice with a knife (but mind you don't nick your knuckles - it's a bit tricky to see what you're doing up in there, if you don't want to ruin your fish).

Clean out the fish by giving it a bit of a wipe with a clean cloth or some kitchen towel. It shouldn't need more than that. Remember, fish guts: Disappointingly unsmelly.

I would recommend bagging them up, though, and tying the bag firmly before binning, as although they're not that smelly yet, once they've sat in your dustbin in the sunshine for a couple of days, they will MING! I hate smelly dustbins, so if there's a bit of a wait until bin day, I tend to freeze anything potentially ghastly, and chuck it straight out on bin day. At least, that's the theory. In practise, I regularly stumble across bags of frozen fish guts, chicken skin, old bones... But anyway, I digress (makes a change... or not).

At this point, I put the oven on (about 180c) and Maddy and I took a stroll up the garden. We're not in full flow yet, but there's still plenty of fresh stuff growing out there to be going on with. We picked flat-leaf parsley, chives, fennel tops and wild garlic. Together with a whole sliced lemon and a knob of butter, these filled our fish very nicely. A rummage in the fridge produced some celery, so that got chopped up and scattered about, too.

Then it's the papillote bit, which sounds complicated. Here's how. Greaseproof paper on to baking tray, fish on to greaseproof paper. Slide fish down to bottom half of paper, bring top half over fish and roll the two edges together like a Cornish pasty. Thassit! If you don't have enough paper, it won't hold, and if you've got too much it's liable to come unfurled, so make sure you've got about 3 - 4 times as much paper as fish - one to sit it on, one to bring over the top and one full one (i.e. two, because it's doubled) to roll up. See, now I've made it sound more complicated than it is - don't worry about it. Just do it.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Remove.

Eat every last bit, including the herbs you stuffed it with, and the cheeks, which are particularly delicious.