Smoked Rainbow Trout Summer Salad

 

Quick and easy hot smoked rainbow trout salad

Smoked trout is sensational served in any number of tasty ways but one of the more simpler ways of serving it, in a fairly basic salad, is often overlooked. This is the second serving suggestion I am offering for the large smoked rainbow trout fillet I used the first part of in yesterday's recipe. I have included an accompaniment suggestion of hot horseradish sauce spread toast, which is of course entirely optional. The recipe couldn't really be much simpler and the only cooking involved is the making of the toast.

Cook Time

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 5 min

Ready in: 15 min

Yields: 1 serving

Hot smoked rainbow trout

Ingredients

• Handful of fresh lettuce leaves, washed, shaken dry and roughly shredded
• 1 medium tomato, cut into 6 wedges
• 2 inch/5cm piece of cucumber, halved lengthways and sliced into crescents
• 6 pitted black olives, halved down through centre
• Salt and black pepper
• Suitably sized piece of hot smoked rainbow trout (see image above, leftover from previous recipe on blog)
• 1 outside slice bread
• Butter (optional)
• 1 teaspoon hot horseradish sauce
• Dried dill to garnish

Prepared salad bed for smoked trout

Method

Put the lettuce, tomato, cucumber and olives into a suitable dish or bowl, season with salt and pepper and carefully toss with your hands to combine. Arrange in the bottom of a deep serving plate.

Peel the skin from the smoked trout and discard. Carefully break the fillet or part fillet with your hands into chunks slightly smaller than bite size and poke them gently into the salad at regular intervals.

Smoked trout salad is served with horseradish toast

Toast the outside slice of bread until golden on both sides. If desired, spread with a little butter. Spoon the horseradish sauce on to the hot toast and spread it out evenly. Cut the toast twice, from corner to opposite corner, to form four small triangles. Arrange these pieces of toast around the edge of the plate, garnish with a little dried dill and serve.

Hot Smoked Rainbow Trout Salad

Hot smoked trout fillet with salad and boiled potatoes

Smoked trout, just like smoked salmon, can be fairly widely obtained in Scotland, particularly at farmers' markets or in farm shops. It is not quite so readily available in traditional supermarkets as the perhaps more illustrious salmon. One thing I have found, though, when buying hot smoked trout or salmon in Scotland, is that more often than not, it seems to be over-smoked. This could be that it is cooked at too high a temperature or cooked for too long - or perhaps both! That is why the smoked trout used in this recipe is home smoked and the difference in a great many instances truly is night and day.

Home, hot smoked rainbow trout fillets

I am of course aware that home smoking is not an option for a great many people for any number of potential reasons. It may be however that you have a small, artisan producer in your local area where you can obtain smoked trout at a more reasonable price than is often charged by the larger commercial producers.

Cook Time (Not Including Smoking of Trout)

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 20 min

Ready in: 30 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• Baby new potatoes as required
• Salt
• 1 duck egg (7 to 10 days old - fresher eggs of any type don't hard boil well)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large garlic clove
• Generous pinch dried basil
• Black pepper
• Handful mixed type lettuce leaves, roughly shredded
• 1 medium tomato, chopped into segments
• 2 inch/5cm piece of cucumber, halved lengthways and sliced into crescents
• 6 pitted black olives, halved down through the cavity where the pip was contained
• Portion of hot smoked trout as required
• Little bit of butter
• Dried dill
• 2 teaspoons horseradish sauce

Method

Put the potatoes into a pot of cold, salted water and put the pot on to a high heat until the water starts to simmer. Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer for 20 minutes.

Put the duck egg into a small saucepan and add enough cold water to ensure it is comfortably covered. Put the saucepan on to a high heat to achieve a moderate simmer for 6 minutes. Lift the saucepan to your sink and run cold water into it for a couple of minutes. Leave the duck egg in the water to cool rapidly and until the potatoes are almost ready. This prevents that harmless but very unattractive blue/grey discolouration forming around the edges of the yolk when the egg is peeled and cooled.

Preparing simple oil based salad dressing

Pour the olive oil into a large glass or stone mixing bowl. Peel the garlic clove and grate it into the bowl. Season with salt, black pepper and the dried basil before stirring very well to ensure everything is combined.

Salad is added to bowl containing oil based dressing

Put the lettuce, tomato, cucumber and black olives into the bowl with the dressing and use a wooden spoon to carefully stir fold them around in the oil.

Crack the shell of the duck egg on a hard surface and carefully peel away. Ensure you get under the membrane just inside the shell for easy peeling. Cut it in half down through the centre.

Butter and dill are added to the drained potatoes

Drain the potatoes at your sink through a colander and return them to the empty pot. Add a little butter and dried dill and gently swirl the pot to ensure even coating.

Hot smoked trout fillet is cut in half

The smoked trout fillet I had when preparing this recipe was far too large for one serving. I therefore cut it in half, peeled away the skin and laid the chosen portion on one corner of a square serving plate. I will feature the other half of this fillet in the next post on this blog in the coming days. The two duck egg halves went either side of the trout, garnished with a little dried dill, along with a teaspoon of horseradish sauce in each instance.

The potatoes were then plated opposite the trout before the salad was arranged either side for service.

Trout with Scrambled Duck Eggs on Toast

 

Rainbow trout with scrambled duck eggs on toast

This is the second trout recipe featuring the fish I filleted a couple of days ago. In this instance, I have pan fried the fillet the same way as before but this time, I have served it accompanied by scrambled duck eggs on toasted wheat, spelt and rye bread. I have also used the last of the lumpfish caviar featured in the previous recipe.

Cook Time

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 10 min

Ready in: 20 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 3 baby plum tomatoes
• Horseradish sauce
• Lumpfish caviar
• 1 rainbow trout fillet, skin on
• Salt and pepper
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Thick slice of wheat, spelt and rye bread (or similar)
• 2 duck eggs
• Teaspoon or so of butter
• Dried dill to garnish (optional)

 

Caviar and horseradish sauce stuffed plum tomato halves

Method

Begin by preparing your side garnish of stuffed baby plum tomatoes as you will have little time to do so once you start cooking. Cut the plum tomatoes in half down through the core with a thin bladed knife. Use the point of the knife to carefully scoop the seeds out of the tomato halves and discard.

A teaspoon can be used to carefully spoon some horseradish sauce into 3 of the tomato halves but do not use a metal spoon for the caviar. A mother of pearl or even a plastic spoon should be used to spoon the caviar into the other 3 tomato halves as metal quickly oxidises caviar and spoils the taste and flavour. If necessary, scooping it from the jar and into the tomato shell with a finger is an option.

Frying trout fillet on skin side

Pour a little vegetable oil into a large frying pan and bring it up to a high heat. Season the trout fillet on both sides with salt and pepper and carefully lay it skin side down in the hot pan. Keep the heat high and fry until you can see the trout fillet is cooked almost all the way through. At that stage, turn the heat down under the pan to minimum and carefully turn the trout to complete cooking on its skin side for 1 minute only.

Slice of wheat, spelt and rye bread

When the trout is on to fry, get the slice of wheat, spelt and rye bread on to toast until golden on both sides.

Duck eggs ready for scrambling

Break the duck eggs into a small saucepan and add the butter only. Do not season at this stage as salt can cause the eggs to break down and not scramble properly. Put the pot on to a medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon to start scrambling the eggs. Stir most of the time as the eggs start to scramble and lift the pot away from the heat for a few seconds on a regular basis to stop over heating.

Trout fillet is plated with toasted bread and stuffed tomato halves

Plate the trout fillet, skin side up, diagonally on a square serving plate. Lay the toast to one side and arrange the little stuffed tomato halves to the other side.

Duck eggs are starting to scramble

When the eggs start to scramble, it will happen very quickly. Keep stirring gently and be sure not to overcook. You want the combination smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper only at the very last minute before spooning onto the toast.

Dried dill garnishes trout and scrambled duck eggs on toast

The skin should easily peel free from the trout and in one whole piece. If desired, garnish the dish with a little dried dill to serve.

Trout with Quail Eggs and Caviar Salad

 

Pan fried trout fillet on dressed salad with devilled quail eggs and caviar

This recipe was prepared using a rainbow trout fillet, a fish native only to North America, while native Scottish trout are of course brown trout. However, these fish have long since been exported around the world, including very much to Scotland, where they are regularly found in fish farms, reservoirs and other private lochs. A great many people will not in fact know that rainbows are not native to Scotland. 

I have shallow fried this fillet in hot oil before serving it on a bed of dressed salad, accompanied by horseradish devilled quail eggs and lumpfish caviar. This form of caviar is very budget friendly and can easily be obtained in modern times in most good supermarkets. This little jar cost £3 for 50g and would produce about six servings of this size.

Gutted rainbow trout with head and tail removed

There are any number of ways to fillet a trout and those who do it regularly will have their own preferred technique. In this instance, I began by gutting the fish and removing the head and tail.

Fillets removed from rainbow trout

The two side fillets can then quickly and easily be removed and are ready for cooking. The first fillet I used for the recipe which now follows and the second fillet, I placed into a suitable dish and the fridge and will use it in the next recipe to be featured on this blog.

Cook Time

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 10 min

Ready in: 25 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 3 quail eggs (about a week old)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large garlic clove
• Generous pinch dried basil
• Salt and pepper
• Handful mixed type lettuce leaves, roughly shredded
• 3 baby plum tomatoes, halved down through the core
• 1 inch/2.5cm piece of cucumber, halved lengthways then sliced into crescents
• 6 pitted black olives, halved down through cavity
• 1/2 teaspoon horseradish sauce
• Little amount lumpfish caviar, as required
• 1 rainbow trout fillet
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Dried dill to garnish

Method

Put the quail eggs into a small saucepan with enough cold water to ensure they are comfortably covered. Put the saucepan on to a high heat until the water just starts to boil. Reduce the heat to achieve a moderate simmer for 1.5 minutes. Take the saucepan to your sink and run cold water into it for a minute or so. Leave the eggs for a few minutes to cool in the water while you prepare the salad.

Combining salad ingredients in dressing

Pour the extra virgin olive oil into a large glass or stone bowl. Peel the garlic clove and grate it into the bowl. Alternatively, it can be peeled and crushed before being added. Season with salt, pepper and the dried basil and stir well with a wooden spoon before adding the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and black olives. Carefully stir fold to fully combine the ingredients and ensure the salad is fully and evenly coated in the oil.

Hard boiled, peeled and halved quail eggs

It is when you come to peel the quail eggs that their being at least a week old becomes essential. If you have boiled eggs that are too fresh, the albumens will still have been too acidic and the inner membrane will stick to the egg white, leading to likely disaster. It is important to carefully crack the shell all around on a hard surface and start peeling at the broad end of the egg, ensuring you get under the membrane as well as the shell. Take your time and ensure not to damage the incredibly delicate eggs. Gently rinse in cold water when peeled to ensure you remove all the little parts of shell and pat dry with kitchen paper.

A thin bladed, exceptionally sharp knife should be used to halve the eggs, down through the yolk. I find a fish filleting knife is ideal for this purpose. The point of this knife can then be used to gently pop the yolks from the albumen casings.

Caviar and horseradish yolks are added to quail egg white casings

Put the quail egg yolks into a small bowl with the horseradish sauce and mash together with the back of a fork. Carefully spoon a third of this mixture into each of 3 of the half quail egg albumen casings. The caviar should be spooned into the remaining egg casings - but do not use a metal spoon! Metal will cause the caviar to quickly oxidise and spoil the flavour and texture. A traditional caviar spoon is made of mother-of-pearl but if you don't have one of those, a small plastic spoon will do the job. 

Trout fillet is added to hot frying pan

Pour some vegetable oil into a large, non-stick frying pan and bring it up to a high heat. Season the trout fillet with salt and pepper on both sides before carefully laying it into the hot pan on the skin side. Fry on the high heat for around 3 minutes until you can see the trout is cooked almost all the way through. Turn the heat under the pan down to minimum and carefully turn the fillet with a fish slice to allow it to complete cooking on the flesh side for 1 minute only.

Salad bed is prepared on plate for trout fillet

While the trout fillet is frying, spoon the salad on to a square serving plate, arranging it in a diagonal channel from one corner to the opposite corner. You want it to be slightly wider than the trout fillet.

Skin should peel easily from fried trout fillet

Lift the trout fillet carefully on to the salad bed, presented skin side up. Garnish the devilled quail eggs with a little dried dill and arrange the egg types alternately on either side of the fish on its salad bed. The crisped skin should easily peel free from the fillet and, if desired, the trout flesh can also be garnished with more dried dill.

Mackerel Fillet with Red Grapefruit Salad

 

Pan fried mackerel fillet with red grapefruit and toasted pine nuts salad

I started this long term project just a few days ago with a look at and recipe for deep fried haddock, the most popular fish sold in Scottish fish and chip shops. Today, I want to look at a very simple but delicious recipe for what is undoubtedly my favourite type of fish and seafood caught in Scotland: Atlantic mackerel. Pleasure sea anglers in particular have a tendency to criticise mackerel as an eating fish, preferring to catch or buy it for use only as bait for supposedly bigger and better things. I have never understood this attitude and while yes, I do use mackerel on occasion as bait when I'm sea fishing, I always reserve a few at least for the pot or the smoker.

This is an incredibly simple recipe that sees the beautifully acidic red grapefruit salad paired with the oily mackerel to complement one another to perfection.

Cook Time

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 5 min

Ready in: 15 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• Generous handful of spinach, rocket and red and ruby chard salad (or mixed salad leaves of choice)
• 3 or 4 red grapefruit segments, peeled, skinned and roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon whole pin nuts
• Vegetable oil for frying
• 1 fresh mackerel fillet, skin on
• 1 tablespoon flour
• Salt and black pepper
• 2 or 3 basil leaves, rolled and shredded, to garnish

Method

Red grapefruit is peeled and separated into segments

Wash the salad leaves and shake them dry. Carefully toss them with the red grapefruit pieces and a little salt before arranging in the base of a deep serving plate.

Red grapefruit and pine nuts salad

Put the pine nuts into a clean, dry frying pan and the pan on to a very high heat. Cook for about 2 minutes, shaking the pan carefully every 20 to 30 seconds to move the nuts around. Pour from the pan to a small plate to cool for a couple of minutes before scattering over the salad.

Mackerel fillet is patted in seasoned flour

Pour a couple of tablespoons of oil into the pan used to toast the pine nuts and put it on to reach a fairly high heat. Scatter the flour on a suitable plate and season with salt and pepper. Pat the mackerel fillet on its skin side only in the flour to evenly coat.

Mackerel is laid in to frying pan and hot oil

When the oil is heated, lay the mackerel fillet carefully in the pan on its skin side. Keep the heat fairly high and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until you can see the fillet is cooked almost all of the way through. Turn the heat under the pan down to low and carefully turn the fillet to finish cooking on its flesh side for 1 minute.

Mackerel is laid on red grapefruit salad bed

Lift the mackerel fillet on to the salad, skin side up. Scatter with the shredded basil leaves to garnish and serve.

Sea Bass with Roasted Veg Tagliatelle

 

Pan fried sea bass fillet on roasted vegetables tagliatelle bed

I have always thought that sea bass is a hugely under-rated fish. It can be fished for and caught from a great many beaches around Scotland, as well as from both pleasure and commercial boats out at sea. It is also readily available in most supermarkets and fishmongers in modern times. Perhaps it is simply the price that puts people off (it can be even more expensive than haddock or cod), or is it not knowing how to cook it? Whatever the reason for its apparent lack of popularity, I know that I love it and have cooked and enjoyed it in a great many ways over the years. In this instance, I pan fried a sea bass fillet before serving it on a bed of roasted vegetables infused tagliatelle pasta, accompanied by a quick and easy made tomato and balsamic chutney on a toasted onion ciabatta bread roll.

Cook Time

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 35 min

Ready in: 50 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 12 small cherry tomatoes (6 for chutney and 6 for roasting)
• 2 large garlic cloves (1 for chutney and 1 for roasting with vegetables)
• 5 tablespoons olive oil (1 for chutney, 2 for roasting vegetables, 2 for frying fish)
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 medium to large courgette (zucchini)
• 3 medium chestnut mushrooms
• 2 small nests dried tagliatelle, or as desired
• 1 sea bass fillet, skin on
• 2 tablespoons plain (all purpose) flour
• Bottom half of a herb and onion ciabatta bread roll, or similar

Method

Put your oven on to preheat to 210C/Gas Mark 7/425F.

Tomato chutney ingredients are added to a small saucepan

While the oven is preheating, add a tablespoon of olive oil to a small saucepan, along with the teaspoon of balsamic vinegar. Cut 6 of the cherry tomatoes in half down through the core and add them to the pan. Peel the first garlic clove and grate it into the pan before further seasoning with a little bit of salt and pepper. Put the saucepan on to a medium to low heat and stir frequently with a wooden spoon until the tomatoes have broken down and a lush, thick chutney is starting to form. Tur off the heat, cover the saucepan and set aside to cool.

Vegetables are added to roasting tray

Cut the remaining tomatoes in half and thickly slice the mushrooms, down through the cup and stalk. Cut the courgette in half lengthways and subsequently into moderately thick crescent-shaped slices. Peel and finely chop the second garlic clove before adding the lot to a roasting tray with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and stir well before placing the tray into the oven for 30 minutes. Remove it and stir again half way through cooking.

When the vegetables have been stirred at the half way stage, add the tagliatelle nests to a large pot of boiling, well salted water and bring to a simmer for 8 to 10 minutes (or per the instructions on the pack).

Sea bass fillet is added to hot pan

Scatter the flour on a large plate and season well with salt and pepper. Pat the sea bass fillet in the flour on its skin side only. Pour a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into a large, non-stick frying pan and bring it up to a high heat before adding the sea bass fillet, skin side down. Season the flesh side of the fillet with salt and pepper and fry on a high heat until you can see the fillet is cooked most of the way through, around 3 minutes. Turn the heat under the pan down to minimum before carefully turning the fillet with a fish slice to complete cooking on its flesh side for 2 minutes.

Put the halved ciabatta roll on to toast until golden.

Roasted vegetables are added to drained tagliatelle

Drain the tagliatelle well through a colander at your sink and return it to the empty pot. Remove the roasted vegetables from the oven and add them to the pot with the pasta (including the oil). A pair of cooking tongs are best used to carefully lift and combine the ingredients.

Spoon the chutney on to the cut side of the toasted ciabatta. Spread it out and cut the roll in half diagonally, corner to opposite corner.

Tucking in to sea bass with roasted vegetables tagliatelle

Again using the cooking tongs, arrange the pasta and vegetables diagonally across the centre of a square plate. Lift the sea bass fillet carefully on top, skin side up. Lay the triangular chutney topped roll halves in the 2 empty corners of the plate. The crisped skin of the sea bass should easily peel free by pinching the tail end and pulling smoothly and steadily towards the head end.

Breaded Haddock with Roast Potatoes

 

Breaded haddock with roast potatoes, peas and tartare sauce

Haddock is the type of fish most associated with Scottish fish and chip shops, so in a way it makes sense to begin this project by looking at a simple way to cook haddock at home. Fish suppers as they are called in Scotland usually see the haddock dipped in a flour based batter before being deep fried in beef fat or vegetable oil. Haddock in breadcrumbs will often be referred to as a special fish supper and be slightly more expensive. Sadly and increasingly, I find the quality of fish suppers sold in a great many fish and chips shops in Scotland to be declining, as the price at the same time drastically increases. The chips are more often than not extremely soggy and unpalatable, as can be the batter. I hope you'll give this haddock dish a try and that, if you too are disappointed with recent fish suppers, it restores your faith in this delicious white fish.

Cook Time

Prep time: 1 hour 15 min (includes cooling time for boiled potatoes)

Cook time: 35 min

Ready in: 1 hour 50 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 5 or 6 baby new potatoes or as required, skin on
• Salt
• 1 skinless haddock fillet
• 1 egg, beaten in a flat bottomed bowl
• 2 tablespoons golden breadcrumbs
• Vegetable oil for frying
• 2 tablespoons frozen peas
• Black pepper and malt vinegar
• Tartare sauce as required
• Lemon wedge to garnish

Method

Add the potatoes to a pot of cold, salted water and put the pot on to reach a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes until the potatoes are just softened (test with a skewer). Drain the potatoes at your sink through a colander, return them to the empty pot, cover and leave for a about an hour or until completely cool.

Skin is carefully peeled from cooled potatoes

Put your deep fryer on to reach a medium to high heat while you peel/rub the skin carefully off the potatoes. It should come away fairly easily.

Breaded haddock fillet ready for shallow frying

Scatter the breadcrumbs on a large dinner plate. Draw the haddock carefully through the beaten egg and ensure it is covered on both sides before patting carefully in the breadcrumbs, again on both sides. Pour a little oil into a large frying pan and put it on to reach a medium to high heat.

Baby potatoes are added to deep fryer

Carefully add the peeled potatoes to the deep fryer. They will require 4 or 5 minutes to become crisp and golden.

Breaded haddock is added to frying pan

Lay the haddock carefully into the shallow frying pan and fry for about 3 minutes each side until done.

Add the peas to a pot of salted boiling water to simmer for 3 minutes.

Remove the potatoes from the hot oil to a plate covered with kitchen paper and leave for a couple of minutes to drain.

Drain the peas at your sink through a colander.

Breaded haddock fillet is served

Lift the haddock fillet to your serving plate and arrange the roast potatoes and peas alongside. The haddock and roast potatoes were in this instance seasoned with salt and malt vinegar. The already salted peas were further seasoned with malt vinegar and black pepper. Spoon the tartare sauce alongside the fish and garnish with the lemon wedge for service.