Trout a la Len Evans
The trout season opens with a recipe from the late Len Evans
The late Len Evans
Tetsuya Wakuda with Tasmanian ocean trout
The 2009-10 trout season has just opened, and dedicated fly fishers (many of whom are known to enjoy the odd drop) will be braving the icy winds to test out their casting skills and fly rods. Tight lines.
For those who are successful, this is an extract from the out-of-print Len Evans' Cookbook from the depths of Winepros Archives.
It starts with advice from Len on how not to cook a trout:
"The first trout I caught on a fly was a cause of great celebration, and Dr Don Francois and I took it back to the shearer's hut we shared to cook it for lunch. Making a champagne sauce, I stood the cooked fish to one side on a rack over a pan, then added the juices from it to the sauce. Instant froth and a bubble flambe, for I had added not juice, but detergent. The trout was lost in a sea of foam, but finished whiter, brighter than ever before."
Instead you can try a retro recipe from Jean Jacques Demoz, the (then) seafood master of Melbourne - and perhaps update it to the tastes and health concerns of 2009 by reducing the cream and eggs slightly. It's still a great way to cook trout.
Truite farcie au riz sauvage (trout stuffed with wild rice)
Ingredients
6 fresh rainbow trout
For the filling:
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoon butter
1 cup wild rice
2 cups water
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup finely diced Granny Smith apple
1/4 cup diced smoked salmon
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup cream
For the sauce:
1/2 bunch sorrel
knob of butter
1/4 cup dry vermouth
1.5 cups cream
salt and pepper
lemon juice (optional)
Method
To prepare the trout, slide a small paring knife along each side of the collar bones from the head to the tail of the fish. Remove the collar bones with a pair of scissors. Now slide the knife between the flesh and rib cage bones on both sides of fish, taking care not to damage the flesh. Remove the side bones.
To prepare the filling, sweat the onion and garlic with the butter in a heavy based 8-cup pot. When soft, add the wild rice and stir for 2-3 minutes before adding water, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the apple and salmon and simmer for a further 5 minutes, by which time the rice should be cooked but still firm.
In a separate bowl blend the egg yolks with cream. Pour this into the wild rice mixture and cook for a further 2 minutes on low heat, ensuring that the mixture does not actually boil. Correct the seasoning and place the filling in a cool bowl.
To fill the trout, lightly salt and pepper the opening you have made in the fish. Spoon the mixture into the trout, using approximately 3 tablespoons of filling per fish and leaving about 2.5 cm along each side of fillet free of filling.
Preheat oven to 230C/450F. Lightly oil a sheet of greaseproof paper for each fish. Place the trout on the oiled side of the paper and wrap it around the fish, forming a neat parcel. Fill a baking dish to a quarter capacity with hot water. Place the trout side by side in the tray, and poach in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
To prepare the sauce, thoroughly wash sorrel, remove all stalks and chop the leaves. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the sorrel, cooking it briskly to evaporate the moisture on the leaves. Add the vermouth and simmer to reduce the volume by half. Pour in the cream and simmer for a few minutes until a syrupy consistency is attained. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and a few drops of lemon juice.
Gently unwrap the trout and remove skin, which will pull away easily. Place on a warmed serving dish and coat with the sauce.
Len didn't recommend a wine but in a toast to his Hunter Valley why not try with a young semillon?
This article was first published in Winepros Archive, 31 March 2000. Reproduced with permission.
James Halliday is also a trout fisherman and you can read an amusing article in Winepros Archive about him sharing a bottle of Maurice O'Shea's famed Mount Pleasant Mountain C with Len Evans and Aubert de Villaine (of the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti) whilst trout fishing in Tasmania - and finding that depsite a nose described as 'dead/burnt rat', it stood up well against Grange 1991.
Regions
- Hunter including Newcastle (NSW)
- Hunter Valley (NSW)
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