Baked Stuffed Lake Trout, Salmon, Or Walleyed Pike

Comments

• 

  Debra Geehring

  Here is my adapted version of this recipe - hope this makes it a little easier to follow
  
  Baked Stuffed Trout – serves 6 (3 portions per side)
  
  INGREDIENTS
  31/2 - 4 lb Fish, dressed with head and tail on
  
  FOR BED OF PAN
  1 tsp Salt and ¼ tsp white pepper
  1 Carrot, thinly sliced
  1 Rib celery, thinly sliced
  6 fresh mushrooms, sliced
  1 medium onion roughly chopped
  3/4 tsp Dry tarragon
  1 c. White wine (some people prefer Vermouth or sherry)
  
  
  FOR STUFFING
  3-4 Tbsp. Butter or margarine, melted (start w/3, add more if needed)
  ¼ tsp powdered bay leaf (optional)
  1 Shallot, thinly sliced (if unavailable use whites only of green onions)
  2 ribs celery celery, minced
  1/4 c. Minced celery tops
  1 Tbsp. Minced fresh parsley
  1 Tbsp. Minced fresh tarragon (substitute 1 tsp dried)
  1/4 tsp Savory
  pinch of fresh sage
  1/4 tsp. onion salt
  1/4 tsp. garlic salt
  1/4 tsp. celery salt
  1 1/2 c. Roughly torn fresh bread crumbs
  
  1 Lemon, sliced very thin (for garnish on the outside of the fish)
  
  Directions
  1. Tarragon goes well with fish, and here's a recipe which uses it both in and on the fish. Neither lake trout nor salmon need be scaled, but do scale pike. Leave head and tail on fish if possible for a lovely presentation. Salt, pepper and sprinkle tarragon on the fish inside and out, then stuff it and sew up or possibly skewer the opening. A smaller trout doesn’t hold a lot of stuffing so plan on baking the extra in a casserole dish for the time the fish is in the oven.
  2. Prepare bed for fish by sautéing carrots, celery and onion for about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and sauté an additional 5 minutes. Add in 1 tsp Salt, ¼ tsp white pepper and ½ tsp tarragon. Add 1 cup white wine, bring just to a boil and then transfer to baking pan to make a bed for the fish (which you will later transfer to the serving platter when plating).
  3. Stuff fish using recipe below
  4. Place the fish in pan prepared with olive oil cooking spray then vegetable mix, and lay lemon slices along the length of the fish. Pan should be small enough so that the wine and juices will help baste the fish during cooking
  5. Bake, uncovered, for about 25-30 min in a 400 degree oven. (The basic rule is cook 10 minutes for each inch of thickness of the fish measured in the thickest part).
  6. Transfer to a platter and surround by vegetables from baking pan
  7. Here’s how I serve. After presentation, remove the skin from the top side of the fish. Gently portion the top half of the fish and remove those portions of the meat from the bone, beginning from the tail and serve, then remove the whole skeleton simply by pulling up the bone from the tail – the whole skeleton, including the head, will easily come off the reaming half of the fish. Discard skeleton and serve remaining fish. Be sure to have a plate ready for the skin and the skeleton for removal from the table.
  
  STUFFING
  1. This is delicious with fish. You can vary herbs and spices to personal taste or for use with other protein.
  2. Saute the minced celery and shallot in butter in a small skillet for 10 min, till tender but still with a little bite.
  Season bread crumbs with tarragon, savory, sage, onion salt, garlic salt and celery salt
  3. Toss in the minced celery tops and the bread crumbs.
  Mix all ingredients together and stuff fish and sew up or possibly skewer the opening. Place any remaining stuffing in casserole for cooking with the fish.
  
• 

  Debra Geehring

  This recipe is awkward and incomplete as written, however, I followed it as best I could make it out and still got rave reviews from people at my summer place who are fisherpeople and big fish eaters. I loved it too so it can be excellent. It looks like it was cut and pasted commenting on celery stuffing and also tarragon fennel stuffing which it never tells you how to make. At one point it asks for 3/4 c (4 ribs) and I assumed celery since that was all it said. I didn't use fennel, but because I think tarragon goes better with fish than marjoram I substitued that. I used about a 3 pound trout and cooked it for 25 minutes and it was just right - adjust cooking time for size of fish of course. I pasted the recipe into a word document and rewrote it for ease in the kitchen and it really ended up being worth the effort.