Pan fried fillets of sea trout on a risotto of Arran camembert, peas and mint.
We are lucky that Richard Attkins, a Member of the Master Chefs of Great Britain, is sending us a recipe for inclusion in the Voice every month. You can sample Richard’s cooking at Arran on a Plate, in Brodick. Here is Richard’s first contribution
Sea trout is basically a sea-going, brown trout. It looks very similar to salmon and its flesh colour and flavour is down to its diet of crustaceans. The average size is about 2kg, perfect for 4/6 people. The season for sea trout starts in April and runs through to the end of summer. It will work as a substitute for salmon in most cases, smokes really well, is nice raw, but the best flavours come through when it’s pan fried with a crisp exterior.
This recipe should only take about 40 minutes to prepare for a meal for 6.
Ingredients
6 pieces of trout approx 180g (ask your fishmonger to leave the skin on, but to pin-bone)
300g risotto rice
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 litre vegetable stock
200g peas
175ml white wine
1 small wheel of Arran camembert
1 small bunch mint
Oil, butter and seasoning.
Method
Bring your stock to the boil. Dice your onion and garlic and place in a warm pot with oil and cook without colour. Wash your rice then add to your onions, ensuring all grains are lightly coated in oil. Now add your glass of wine. Stir well to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. Leave on a medium heat and add one ladle of stock at a time, letting the rice absorb this before adding the next ladle. Keep doing this until the rice is cooked, but still has a slight bite to it.
When your rice is almost done, place a non-stick frying pan on a high heat. Place a little oil in the pan and season the skin side of your fish. Place this skin-side down in the pan, and then season the fish on the flesh side. Sea trout is not as thick or dense as salmon and will cook more quickly. After about a minute turn the fish and add a couple of knobs of butter. This will foam up slightly and you can baste the fish with this when it’s cooking.
Fish almost done; pop your peas in your risotto and tear your cheese up through it also, so it starts to melt through it. Last thing chop your mint and sprinke over. (Don’t put the mint in any earlier as it will discolour).
Check your fish is cooked (it’s fine to leave a little underdone).
Serve with a nice medium-dry white wine.
