Friday, 1 July 2011

Kane's Kitchen - 28th June 2011 - Baked Whole Rainbow Trout with Asian Herbs and a Sweet Soy Sauce

Baking fish is a healthy way to eat this important protein.  When using an oily fish like trout or salmon, no butter or oil is required as the flesh is rich with good fats that our bodies need. 

Trout is an amazing fish to work with. It is not too “fishy” and is one of the cheaper fish to buy from your local fishmonger. 

This recipe is Asian-inspired and is great to serve if you are sharing a whole lot of food.  I have also provided a recipe for a sweet soy sauce – ingredients can be found at your local Asian grocer.  But if you don’t want to make it yourself, any ready-made sweet soy sauce can be used for this dish. 









Baked Whole Rainbow Trout with Asian Herbs and a Sweet Soy Sauce


Serves:  4    
Prep Time:  15 minutes
Cook Time:  20 minutes


What You’ll Need:

  • 2 whole rainbow trout, about 300g each, scaled and cleaned
  • Thumb of ginger, sliced into round discs
  • 1 stalk lemongrass, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced in half
  • 4 kaffir lime leaves
  • Bunch coriander, chopped
  • Bunch Thai basil, chopped
  • Bunch Vietnamese mint, chopped
  • 2 spring onions, chopped
  • 1 red chilli, chopped
  • 1 tblsp deep fried shallots
  • Salt and pepper to season

Sauce:

  • ¼ cup shao hsing wine (Chinese cooking wine)
  • ¼ cup ketjap manis (Indonesian sweet soy)
  • ¼ cup mirin (Japanese sweet cooking wine)
  • Squeeze lemon juice
  • 1 tsp cracked black pepper


What You’ll Need To Do:

1.            Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Stuff the cavity of each trout with some ginger, garlic, lemongrass, kaffir lime and coriander.  Season with salt and pepper. 
2.            Wrap each fish individually in some baking paper and then aluminium foil.  Seal tightly.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. 
3.            While the fish is baking, add all sauce ingredients to a saucepan and reduce on a medium heat for 15 minutes.  Test for seasoning – if it is too salty or has a strong wine taste, add some brown sugar. 
4.            When the fish is done, discard all items in the cavity.  Carefully peel back the skin from the tail to the head on one side.  Discard.
5.            To serve, arrange the fish on a large platter.  Drizzle some sauce over the fish and top with the chopped coriander, Vietnamese mint, Thai basil, spring onions, red chilli and the deep fried shallots.  Keep remaining sauce for dipping.
6.            To eat, carefully remove the flesh with a butter knife, ensuring not to scrape away any bones.  Once all the flesh is removed from one side, carefully remove the backbone of the fish by lifting the tail up and peeling the backbone towards the head. The head of the fish should also come away from the fillet beneath.

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