Pan-Fried Trout with Mushrooms and Tarragon
This classic recipe works so well with the subtle and delicate flavour of the fresh trout fillets. Recipe by Tim Maddams for the British Trout Associaton.
Serves: 2
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Ingredients
2 x ChalkStream trout fillets
150g chestnut mushrooms
150g oyster mushrooms
80g butter
1/2 glass dry white wine
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
A sprig of parsley, chopped
A few stems of tarragon, chopped
1 tablespoon crème fraiche
Half a lemon
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method
Lightly season the trout fillets with salt and pepper and allow them to come to room temperature.
Quarter the chestnut mushrooms into pound coin thick slices and tear your oyster mushrooms up a little.
Finely dice the onion and chop the garlic.
Heat a well trusted frying pan and add a little olive oil.
Gently place the trout fillets in the pan skin side down and cook over a moderate heat until the skin is golden and the fish is cooked about 1/3 of the way though – this will probably take around 2 mins.
Remove the trout from the pan and set it aside on a warmed plate skin side up. Once they have cooled a little you should be able to easily peel off the skin and discard it.
Put half the butter in the pan along with the diced onion and garlic and fry these for a minute or two until the onion softens a little.
Add all the mushrooms and cook over a high heat for a minute or two, then add the wine and cook down a little.
Reduce the heat and pop a lid on the pan – allow the mushrooms to cook for another 5 minutes on very low.
Season everything and add the rest of the butter to the mushroom pan, pop the trout fillets on top of the mushrooms.
Replace the lid on the pan and cook for 5 more minutes on a very low heat.
Remove the lid from the pan, turn off the heat and lift the fish out from the mushrooms.
Add most of the parsley and tarragon and all of the crème fraiche to the buttery braised mushrooms and spoon these over the fish fillets.
Squeeze over a little lemon and scatter a few more leaves of tarragon and parsley over the top – drizzle with olive oil and enjoy.
