Pan-fried Trout with Lemon and Herb Stuffing

Few things strike me as being as light as trout.  For some reason, a nice trout fillet is the epitome of light to me.  And once you add in lemons and herbs it just... gets lighter.  I'm not saying it makes any sense, but that's how I think.  So when I was trying to think of a light, fresh dish to kick off a few nights of home-cooked meals, this recipe seemed perfect.  It looked easy, it didn't require a lot of ingredients and it sounded tasty.  I was so set on this particular recipe that I didn't come up with a contingency plan; luckily the grocery store had some nice rainbow trout fillets so I didn't have to figure one out.  

Some recipes are exactly what they sound like and no more - this was one of them.  The "lemon and herb stuffing" provided the fish with a nice, bright flavor that is nicely offset by the flavor of rich browned butter.  I wish we had toasted the bread a little more, but if we had it would have been hard to cut the bread into a fine enough dice.  In the future I would probably toast the bread lightly, cube it, and then toast the cubes again to get them nice and crunchy.  In order for it to retain some texture you should get it pretty crunchy before tossing with the lemon segments and the herbs.  Otherwise it all gets a little mushy.  Even though our bread wasn't toasted enough and the skin didn't get as crispy as I would have liked, I would still call this dish one of the most successful trout recipes we have prepared.  It was also exactly what we needed tonight after a week of dining out at restaurants.

Recipe after the jump!


 

Pan-fried Trout with Lemon and Herb Stuffing
Simple Fresh Southern: Knockout Dishes with Down-Home Flavor
By Matt Lee and Ted Lee


INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 rainbow, brook or brown trout fillets (about 6 oz. each) (we used rainbow trout)
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large lemon, segmented
2 slices white or wheat bread, toasted, crusts cut off, cut into fine dice
1/2 cup mixed fresh herbs (dill, parsley and mint)
2 tbsp evoo
1 tsp white vinegar

In a small bowl mix together flour and s&p.  Sprinkle the mixture over both sides of the trout fillets until evenly coated.

Melt the butter in a medium cast-iron skillet over medium heat until the foam begins to subside.  Place the trout in the skillet, skin side down, and cook until the skin is alluringly browned, about 5 minutes.  Turn the fillets over and cook, flesh-side down, about 3 minutes.

While the fillets are cooking, toss lemon segments, diced toast and herbs in a bowl.  Dress with evoo and vinegar and set aside.  Season with salt to taste (if necessary).

Place a dollop of lemon-herb mixture on each plate and lay trout, skin-side up, over top.  Serve immediately.