Company was coming for a holiday dinner. I wanted something special instead of lamb chops or beef roast. Not that there’s anything wrong with chops or a roast, but I wanted to show off a little. Cook something festive, maybe.
I decided on Stuffed Rainbow Trout.
When I fillet a trout streamside, I slice down behind the gills and run the knife down the bone, then take the skin off. This makes a nice filet, but you can’t stuff a fillet. When a good butcher does it, he able to debone the entire trout in one piece and leave the skin and sides attached. I needed a good butcher, so I went to Whole Foods and picked out 4 fat, deboned rainbow trout along with a dozen bay scallops and a 4 oz. pack of frozen salad shrimp.
Here’s how I did my Stuffed Rainbow Trout.
Fry 4 thick slices of bacon, remove and drain. Melt 4 oz. butter and add 2 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice. Next, put 1 bag of brown rice in boiling water and remove to drain. In a separate pan, melt 1 T butter and a T of olive oil and sauté the shrimp and bay scallops (chopped into small pieces). Add 1/4 cup minced onions, a ¼ cup diced red bell pepper, the crumbled bacon, salt and pepper and the bag of drained brown rice. Cook on low heat for about five minutes and now you’re ready to stuff the trout.
Pour a little of the melted lemon/butter in each trout cavity, then divide the rice stuffing into four equal parts and insert into the trout cavities. Close the trout and drizzle the remainder of the lemon/butter on top. Garnish each trout with several thin slices of lemon.
Spread some melted butter on the bottom of a large piece of aluminum foil (I used two pieces, two trout each), secure tightly and bake in a 350 oven for 25 minutes. Plate each trout, serve and enjoy
Stuffed Rainbow Trout
4 deboned rainbow trout
2 fresh lemons
12 bay scallops
¼ oz. pkg, frozen salad shrimp
6 T butter (divided)
1 Oz. olive oil
1/4 C finely diced onion
¼ C diced red bell pepper
4 thick bacon slices crispy fired and crumbled
1 bag Boil-In- Bag brown rice