Roast trout with clementine ginger spring onion and herbs

“I love fish at Christmas, and this dish provides a lot of flavour for little effort. Serve it with a winter salad of kale, orange and fennel for a bit...

recipe
About Recipe
Roast trout with clementine ginger spring onion and herbs

“I love fish at Christmas, and this dish provides a lot of flavour for little effort. Serve it with a winter salad of kale, orange and fennel for a bit of crunch. I also love to make a Japanese-style potato salad, which has great textures of green apple, carrot and boiled egg, flavoured with wasabi, pickled ginger and Japanese mayo. All this can be prepared the day before so there’s no stress during the celebrations.”

Ingredients :
  • 50ml rapeseed oil
  • 1 ChalkStream Gleamer trout, 2.2-2.5kg (see ‘before you start’)
  • 8cm piece ginger, finely sliced
  • 2 lemongrass stalks, bruised with the back of a knife and halved lengthways
  • 4 spring onions, halved lengthways
  • 4 garlic cloves, bashed but unpeeled
  • 30g bunch coriander, a few sprigs reserved to garnish
  • 5 mint sprigs
  • 3 clementines, 2 sliced into rounds and 1 halved
  • 6 lime leaves, finely sliced
  • 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 50ml shaoxing wine
Directions :

  1. Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Take the largest roasting tray you have (that’ll fit in your oven) and line it with a few sheets of foil, ensuring there is plenty of overhang so you can wrap the whole fish. Brush half the rapeseed oil all over the foil, then scatter it generously with sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper.

  2. Take the trout out of its packaging and pat it dry very well inside and out with kitchen paper, then sit it on the foil. Season the cavity with salt and pepper, then stuff it with the ginger, lemongrass, spring onions, garlic, coriander, mint, half the clementine rounds and half the lime leaves. Drizzle in the toasted sesame oil.

  3. Put the clementine halves, cut-side down, in a dry frying pan over a high heat and cook for a few minutes until deeply caramelised. Add the halves to the tray and pour in the shaoxing wine. Brush the top of the trout with the remaining rapeseed oil, then scatter over the remaining lime leaves and season with salt and pepper.

  4. Use the overhanging foil to tightly wrap the fish, crimping the edges well to ensure no steam can escape. Put the trout in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes (depending on size), then leave to rest for 15 minutes without opening the foil. This will mean the trout is just cooked, retaining its juicy texture and bright orange colour.

  5. While the trout cooks, put the remaining clementine rounds in a dry frying pan over a medium heat and cook until caramelised, flipping halfway.

  6. Carefully transfer the cooked trout to a serving platter or tray, ensuring you pour over any cooking juices, then squeeze over the juice from the caramelised clementine halves. Decorate the fish with the caramelised clementine rounds and coriander sprigs.

Categories