The river was calm that morning, silver mist curling above the water. I have always believed that the best meals begin not in the kitchen, but in the fields, gardens, and streams. When the trout tugged, I already knew what was for dinner…
Details
Serves: 2
Preparation time: 1 hour
Ingredients
Fish
- 2 trout (about 350 g each)
- 2 apples (about 400 g)
- 5 sprigs fresh mint (or, if unavailable, 1 level tsp dried mint, ground to a fine powder in a mortar)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 white onion (30–40 g)
- 4 cm piece of fresh ginger root
- 20 g butter
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
- Olive oil
Parsnip purée
- 400 g parsnips
- 20 g butter
- 50 ml cream
Preparation
Grate one of the apples coarsely. Finely chop the onion and garlic. Sauté the onion in butter until translucent, then add the garlic and cook together for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the grated apple, lemon juice and zest, the pressed juice from the grated ginger, 2 teaspoons of salt, and the finely sliced mint leaves.
Rinse the trout and pat dry with kitchen paper. Rub the skin lightly with olive oil, then stuff the abdominal cavity with the apple mixture.
Slice the second apple into rounds and arrange them in a greased baking dish or tray to form a bed for the trout. Place the fish on top of the apple slices.
Bake at 240 °C (465 °F) for about 30 minutes, until the skin of the trout is slightly crisped.
Meanwhile, prepare the parsnip purée: peel the parsnips and cut them into 1 cm chunks. In a heavy-bottomed nonstick pan, sauté gently in butter under a lid over low heat until tender. Add the cream, bring to a quick boil, then purée with a hand blender.
Serve the trout together with the baked apple slices and parsnip purée.