What to do with one Trout.

Well, I say one Trout, but there were certainly potatoes and other vegetables involved. I caught a lovely 20" Rainbow Trout yesterday and I want to show you how it's possible to make a mouth watering meal that will make even your foodiest of friends whine and pine. Come in, sit down, and have some Trout skin chicharrones. Yep, those are pork rinds, but made from fish skin instead of football. I got the idea for the chicharrones from the illustrious Hank Shaw at his wonderful blog. His cooking makes me look like a backwoods country bumpkin with a chicken fetish, make sure you check him out.

The appetizers are simple, tiny boiled potatoes from the garden, selectively shaved down to be perfect little serving bowls for the cured Trout roe (processed like Ikura, see video.) I put some butter in the potatoes and throw them under the broiler for a minute before I cool them and add the roe.

The Salad, well we need our veggies, so make yourself a nice salad. I'm sure I could have work a Trout into the salad but something about that sets off alarms to my inner New Jersey. I'd settle for some baby arugula with some kinda citrus vinaigrette and pumpkin seeds.

For the main course, we'll steam boneless, skinless trout fillets in soy sauce, sherry, ginger, carrots and green onions. Serve with spaghetti squash with a rice vinaigrette. I put my sides in separate dishes to make the fish float in the broth in which it was steamed. Desert is not of fish, but it is Wild Serviceberry syrup over buttered home made sourdough. This is coming at a time when my poor old dog has just had an expensive surgery and funds for gourmet meals are not available. With a lunker Trout and some simple ingredients, anyone can afford to eat like a king.