Trout…take 2

Remember this guy? 

So I caught this trout the other day… and I wanted to create a different dish with it instead of BBQ’ing it in tin foil.  Don’t get me wrong, I love BBQ’d trout, but I like to change things up too.  So I became creative…and baked trout was calling my name.  I didn’t mind turning on the oven since the weather has not been hot. 

Since I recently taught myself to fillet a salmon, I figured a trout was probably not too difficult either.  It was probably easier as it was smaller and easier to work with.  And I definitely did a better job.  The backbone came off much cleaner and I didn’t leave behind a ton of the bones.  I still had to use tweezers to remove some of the pin bones, but that is normal. 

So once the trout was split into 2 beautiful fillets, I put them in a casserole dish.  I then covered them with onions, garlic, salt, pepper and fresh herbs.  Then I gave it a bath in a nice white Chardonnay – about a 3/4 cup.  Next, I covered the fish with gluten-free cracker crumbs to mimic a breadcrumb topping.  I drizzled about 4 Tbsp. of melted Earth Balance over top and stuck it in the oven for about 12 minutes, on 400F.  Once the buzzer went off, I quickly switched to the broiler to give it a nice brown top. 

My verdict?  I thought it was tasty.  The fish was flaky and did not taste fishy one bit.  The only thing I caution about is that the trout did have a stronger wine flavour, so if you are not a big wine fan, I would suggest subbing it for chicken broth? 

I served my baked trout with my yummy Vegetable Risotto. 

Enjoy and be back soon. 

I have a yummy cookie recipe for you soon…healthy and filled with protein… you’ll love it. 

Bea

xoxo

I love fishing

Happy Tuesday everyone!

So I must say that I am really proud of myself.  So far this summer, I’ve taught myself to fillet salmon, smoke salmon on the BBQ and now I can add preparing my own fishing rod to the list. 

You see, growing up and in more recent days, I’d rely on friends and family to attach my hooks, spool my fishing rod, attach a worm (yuck) or other bait or lures to my line and even kill and gut the fish.  I’ve never had to tie a fishing knot because it was always done for me. 

So Sunday night, I took the initiative to teach myself something new once again.  I like learning new things and if it brings me pleasure, even better.  I had to change my line on my rod to a much lighter and kink-free fishing line.  So once again Google and YouTube were my friends.  And I did it.  I bought a 12lb line and spooled it all by my lonesome, without any kinks or knots or tangles.  Then came time to attaching the weight and the fishing hook.  I practiced a couple of knots on the old line that I removed and it worked after a few tries.  Yeah me !  The whole process took me about an hour, but I can finally announce that I successfully prepared my OWN fishing rod.  I was just praying that the knots were tight enough so that I don’t lose any fish.

Monday morning, the girls and I headed to our local lake for an afternoon of fishing.  We packed some snacks, our gear, chairs and off we went.  After a brief pit stop at the gas station and the local tackle store to buy extra hooks and a fish bonker (just in case), off we went.  The sun was shining and we were ready for some relaxation and hopefully fish action.  The only thing we forgot was the sunscreen…. my right arm is slightly lobster-coloured.

Not sure why this picture is so blurry, but here is another view of the lake on the way back to the car.  The clouds started coming in and the wind picked up, but we were happy, because we didn’t leave empty handed.  That bonker definitely came in handy this afternoon.

I ended up catching and landing 3 cut throat trout, but only kept this one because the other 2 were too small.  I had to throw one back with the hook as it completely swallowed it.  I guess it was off to find the fishy dentist.

I even overcame my fear of worms.  I hate worms, how they wiggle, get smaller and larger when trying to put them on the hook.  It grosses me out, but I did it.  After a couple, it wasn’t so bad anymore. Yeah me!

When I got home, I had to gut the fish, something else I’ve never had to do either.  It was pretty gross, but I got over it. 

Mr. Trout is now prepped and wrapped in tin foil in the fridge.  I’m going to BBQ it tonight in the same way I did the last one.  And I think I”m going to eat with with a nice vegetable risotto this time.  What do you think?

Hope everyone is having a great start to their week.  Can you believe it’s already July 19th?  Crazy how time flies when you’re having fun.

Bea

xoxo

Trout and a movie

I promised you my trout recipe, and promises I keep.  I decided to relive my childhood and cook the trout the way my dad used to make it for me when I was younger and we caught trout while camping.  I think it’s been about 7 years since I caught myself a trout that size, so it was going to be another cooking adventure.

But first, my lunch… I still have a bunch of smoked salmon in the fridge and will for another couple of days, so I thought I’d make myself a very simple lunch.

A couple of Rye Wasa crackers, baby carrots, a blob of herbed goat’s cheese and lots of salmon.

A bowl of cantaloupe…probably one of my favourite fruits if it’s ripe.

A small bowl of the Liberté Non-fat plain Greek yogurt with a teaspoon of pure maple syrup. 

And a cup of coffee sweetened with a tad of Agave Syrup and a splash of non-fat milk…in one of my favourite mugs too.  One of my students gave me this for Christmas last year.

---

As for the trout…. I stuffed it with some herbed butter, onions, garlic and salt and pepper.  Then I packed him up in the tin foil and placed it on the BBQ over Indirect Heat.  My BBQ has 4 burners, and so I turned two of the burners on medium low heat.  I’d say it took about 20 minutes before the meat was falling off the bones and I could peal away the skin.

For some reason, this reminds me of a cartoon cat that feasted on a fish.  I just pulled the backbone right off the trout and it came off this clean… a great sign that it was done.

While the trout was cooking away, I prepared a quick stir-fry of onions, garlic, red pepper and baby carrots.  Shortly before serving, I added a sprinkle of Cane sugar to caramelize it slightly.  I also made some mashed baby potatoes. 

And voila..my dinner.  I wasn’t able to finish it all, so it was perfect for my lunch the next day.

---

Horrible Bosses

We went to go see Horrible Bosses last night.  And I have to say it was pretty good.  It’s basically about 3 friends who have horrible bosses and they conspire to kill them so that their lives are much better.  And yes, their bosses truly are horrible.  The actors were funny:  Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey, Jason Bateman, Donald Sutherland, to name a few.   We laughed for almost the entire movie.   The movie is about 100minutes long.  A good length for a movie. 

 

That’s it for me. I’m off to buy my groceries for the week and pick up cat and dog food.  Back again soon I hope.

Bea

xoxo