My First Rainbow Trout

My son’s love of rainbow trout goes back many years. Seven years ago, when Cam was 3, we joined my husband on a business trip to the Portland area. During our wanderings, Cam and I found the Bonneville Fish Hatchery, where they raise…rainbow trout. He was captivated by the fish and made me buy him an artistic print of a rainbow trout, which has been hanging in his room all these years. He also loved Herman the sturgeon, but this post is about rainbow trout.

Fast forward 6 years to our visit to Portland last year. Cam ordered rainbow trout at every restaurant that offered it, not only does he love how they look, he loves how they taste.

So when whole rainbow trout was on sale at our local market, I bought some.

It was the first time I ever cooked a whole fish. It turned out delicious and I enjoyed the process of eating it this way (but then again, I enjoy picking crab). My husband and son praised the taste but made me promise to never make whole fish again, they want fillets. Oh well. But they agreed that the fish went very well with zucchini with garlic and lemon.

The recipe for this easy and tasty dish is below.

I also wanted to share that Cam and I ticked off another of our “must do’s” in Portland., we went to Voodoo Donuts. We picked a weekday morning and were very pleased that there was only a 5 minute line. There are a few more donut places to try, but so far, these are our favorite donuts. Luckily, it is a mile walk each way to go get them.

Baked Whole Rainbow Trout

adapted from several recipes including from allrecipes.com and the New York Times.

2 teaspoons olive oil

3 small whole rainbow trout, gutted and cleaned, heads and tails still on

6 sprigs fresh dill

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 lemon, thinly sliced

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease with about 1 tsp olive oil.

Place the trout on the the baking sheet and and coat with remaining teaspoon of olive oil. season with salt and pepper. Stuff each fish with two sprigs of dill and 2 slices of lemon.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes; sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of water onto the dish. Continue baking until fish flake easily with a fork, about 10 minutes more.