Ocean trout is one of my more favoured fish, it’s light and flavoursome, not too filling and it’s a great alternative to salmon. I rarely cook fish on a grill or pan at home as I find normally the kitchen and house fills with a strong aroma of cooked fish for a day or so later. I tend to oven bake it in foil packets or even better, poach it.
With chicken I like to poach it in water with lemon, black peppercorns and a few bay leaves, to poach this trout, I used a similar base but added wine, fennel and celery. It’s an incredibly quick and hassle-free method of cooking this beautiful fish. You’ll have it ready from start to finish in 20 minutes.
INGREDIENTS
To poach the fish:
- 1 bottle white wine
- 10 cups water
- 2 sticks celery, finely sliced crossways
- 1 small bulb of fennel, thinly sliced, including feathery leaves roughly torn
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorn, whole
- 2 lemons, finely sliced
- Bunch fresh tarragon leaves
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 1 full side fillet of ocean trout, pin boned (ask your fishmonger to do this for you)
For the sauce:
- 1 free-range egg yolk
250 ml canola oil - 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 10-12 small-medium fresh tarragon leaves
- Pinch salt
- Pinch white pepper
- 1/3 cup sparkling wine or champagne
You will also need:
- Fresh dill to serve
- Fresh lemon thyme to serve
METHOD
- Into a large baking dish (the capacity area of mine measured 21cm x 29cm x 6cm) add all the poaching ingredients (with exclusion of the fish for the moment) and place on the cooker top over medium-high heat. Bring to the boil then turn down heat and simmer for 10 minutes to infuse flavours. Add the fish, skin side down, flesh up. Continue to simmer the fish over medium heat for 5-6 minutes ~ if the fish protrudes out of the water spoon the liqour occasionally over the fish. Turn off heat and allow the fish to stand in the water for a further 10-12 minutes. The fish will continue cooking in the hot water. Carefully remove the fish using two egg lifters or such and place directly onto your serving platter.
- While the fish is resting, to make the sauce; add the egg yolk, oil, vinegar, lemon juice, tarragon, salt and white pepper into the bowl of a food processor.
- Add the oil into a squeeze bottle fitted with a small, narrow nozzle. Turn the mixer on and whizz at high speed, steadily drizzle the oil into the other ingredients via the feed spout, continue to add the oil in a steady stream as the machine beats everything together. I find adding the oil to one of these bottles makes squeezing the oil in a stready stream a lot easier.
- When everything is beaten together and mayo is thick and glossy, add the champagne and beat gently to combine. The consistency should be creamy, light an a little aerated. If you need to add more champagne to reach this consistency do so.
- To serve, snip a few feathery dill leaves over the fish and serve with the champagne sauce on the side.
Hello Katie!
First of all I want to say I adore your website. Secondly I was wondering if you can use salmon in this recipe? Do you know if it will cook the same?
Thank you!!
Hi Kelsey – yes totally, salmon will work just as well, it’ll just have a slightly stronger flavour. But go for it!