Spring is always an important time of year for my family and me. As much of the food my family eats comes from what I can hunt for, catch or grow, spring means that the freezer is getting a bit low and after the long winter we just had, it is even more so. This year spring couldn’t have come soon enough.
Spring means turkey hunting, starting the garden and open water fishing. Here in Northern New England open water fishing usually translates into trout fishing. As all of the New England states stock their rivers and streams with brook, rainbow and brown trout, and many of these fish do find their way to my dinner table, as soon as the ice has melted I like to head to our numerous large deep lakes to pursue lake trout. Lake trout are native fish to this area and grow much larger than those trout found in our rivers and streams. This translates into greater amounts of fillets for the freezer for equal or less energy spent. In other words, fishing for lake trout gives me more bang for my buck.
Fishing is the fun part; cleaning is the less glamorous job and if not done correctly can lead to wasted fish. With large fish, like lake trout, I always fillet. Smaller stream trout I leave whole. There are many different ways to fillet fish. Some people like to leave the skin on, while others prefer a clean skinless fillet. I like to leave the skin on as when I cook it, whether baking it, or cooking it on the grill, none of the meat sticks to the cooking surface.
One of my favorite ways to cook fish is on the grill. What follows is one of my recipes and one that my family seems to enjoy. I hope you do too.
Rosemary/Chive Trout:
Ingredients to serve 4 people:
- 2, 1pound Lake trout fillets (other trout species can be substituted)
- 1/8 cup of chopped fresh chives (green onions can be substituted)
- 1/8 cup of fresh rosemary (dried can be substituted)
- 1 large lemon (I have used lime and even an orange in this recipe and have found that both work as well)
- Mix rosemary and chives in a small bowl and then set aside.
- On a piece of aluminum foil place a clean trout fillet skin side down. Fold the sides and ends of the aluminum foil up to form a container, which I often call a “boat”. Repeat this with the second fillet. At this point you should have two “boats”, each with a fillet.
- Spread rosemary/chive mixture equally over both fillets.
- Cut lemon in half and squeeze juice of ½ lemon on each fillet.
- Fold the sides of the aluminum foil together making the “boats into an enclosed container. Place in the refrigerator and allow the fish to marinate in the lemon juice. While fish are marinating, turn on the grill and allow to heat up to 200 degrees F. This is also a good time to prepare any side dish you want to serve with the fish.
Side dish: Grilled Chive potatoes
This dish goes great with everything. The beauty of it is that it can be prepared on the grill with whatever you are cooking.
Ingredients:
- 8 medium sized potatoes
- ¼ cup of chopped chives
- Butter to taste (olive oil can be substituted)
- Wash and slice the potatoes, placing them onto a sheet of aluminum foil.
- Add the chives and butter.
- Cover with another sheet of aluminum foil and close the sides and ends.
As the potatoes will take longer to cook than the fish, place them on the grill 15 minutes prior than the fish. Doing this will assure that both are ready at the same time.
Enjoy!
By Dana Benner