Poor Herb - My adventures fishing, gutting and eatin'

Trout.

This past weekend I went fishing. Well, I take that back, I watched as my boyfriend fish and I sat around drinking tea, catching up on my reading and soaking in the rays.

After about an hour, hurrah – we had caught a 1.25 pound trout (whom I named Herb). Another hour or so passed and my stomach started to grumble so we called it a day and got ready to cook up Herb.

I researched how to clean, gut and cook Herb. Frankly, it looked disgusting, but I was ready for the challenge. First thing, I got home and put Herb in a long casserole dish covered with crushed iced. Herb may have possibly been still kicking when I threw him in the ice bath, but oh well.

After a few hours I decided to tackle the cleaning and gutting. If you’ve ever cleaned a fish, my number one recommendation is to clean and gut OUTSIDE. Luckily, I did my homework and laid out some newspaper on my patio table. Using a butter knife I scraped off the scales and fatty outer layer of Herb by working my way from the tail up. Then, I washed Herb off in cold water and got ready to gut him. I’ll spare you the details, but basically it was disgusting.

Meanwhile, I prepared the BBQ and prepped my side dish of white beans, capers, shallots and arugula vinaigrette, which were to be served with Herb butterflied on top.

I found a great recipe from Bon Appetite magazine – simple and fast.

Overall, a wonderful meal that you could substitute any white fish for the trout, or even chicken.

But, I have to say, I did somewhat loose my appetite when poor Herb’s eye popped out ;)

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup minced shallots
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon drained capers
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 15-ounce can white beans, rinsed, drained
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
2 10-ounce cleaned boned butterflied trout
1 cup coarsely sliced arugula
Sea salt and pepper

Directions

Prep BBQ to medium-high heat. Cook butter in small skillet over medium heat until brown, stirring often, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix in oil, then shallots, vinegar, capers, and rosemary. Season vinaigrette to taste with salt and pepper.
Mix beans, lemon peel, and 2 tablespoons vinaigrette in medium skillet. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Butterfly the trout.

Brush a little vinaigrette over flesh side of trout; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill trout, flesh side down, until brown, about 2 minutes. Turn trout over; grill until cooked through, about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, place skillet with beans onto your stove/grill and warm through. Mix arugula into warm beans; spoon alongside trout.

Place the trout on top of the bean/arugula salad. Reheat remaining vinaigrette; spoon over trout and beans.