midweek fishing

roast rainbow trout with crispy sage & almonds & a green salad

There are few things I enjoy more than having people over for a weekend lunch or dinner. Plenty of time for hunting and gathering and preparing makes for relaxed entertaining. But sometimes the only time available is a mid week special and its times like these that keeping things simple is really critical.

Last week I was lucky enough to take some time off to hang out with my mum after the first of her chemo treatments. The plan was for me to drive to the family farm after work. With no idea how she would be feeling,  I wanted to arrive with a quick, simple but hopefully appetising dinner that I could knock together and still have time to attend to my mum if needed.

As I’ve mentioned before, my mum loves fish so fish we would have. A quick dash to the fish markets for some rainbow trout, a few lemons, salad greens and peaches for dessert and I was done.

As planned, dinner took about 30mins to pull together (a large chunk of which was oven preheating time…note to self…call ahead). But the best part of all was that my mum ate and I think loved most of her fish and polished off dessert with no troubles. An ex-cancer patient in the making…all good things….

a speedy midweek fish dinner
roast rainbow trout with crispy sage and almonds
green salad
roast peach crumble with icecream

roast rainbow trout with crispy sage and almonds
serves 4

I used to pan fry my trout which is also delicious but requires your undivided attention. The idea to roast the fish in a super hot oven was pinched from Jamie Oliver. It works a treat giving you divinely crispy skin over delicately moist flesh while leaving you with time to knock up a fresh salad to go with.

4 plate sized rainbow trout
extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch sage, leaves picked
2 handfuls sliced almonds
2 lemons, halved and base flattened
green salad, to serve

Preheat your oven to its highest temperature. Rinse trout and pat dry. Rub with olive oil and season well. Place in a baking tin with the lemon halves and bake for 5 mins. Scatter over the almonds and sage leaves and drizzle with a little more oil then keep cooking for another 5mins. Test the fish to see if it flakes easily from the bone. If not return to the oven for a few more minutes.

Divide trout and lemons between 4 plates, drizzle with any pan juices and sprinkle with almonds and sage. Serve with green salad passed separately.
roast peach crumble with icecream
serves 4

This is a great little dessert to make the most of the last of late summers peaches. Or as autumn rolls in think about in season apples or pears which will probably take a little longer to cook.

If you’re really strapped for time or don’t feel like getting your food processor dirty, you could skip the crumble topping and just dust the peach halves with the sugar and butter and maybe the almonds before popping them in the oven.

75g butter
75g rolled oats
75g raw sugar
75g sliced almonds, toasted
75g walnuts, toasted
1/2t ground cinnamon
2 large or 4 small ripe peaches
vanilla icecream, to serve

Preheat oven to 200C (or cool down from your trout cooking). Combine butter, oats, sugar, nuts and cinnamon in a food processor and whizz until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.

Halve and de-stone peaches and place in an oven proof dish cut side up. Divide crumble mixture between peaches pushing down to form an even topping. Bake while you are enjoying your fish for 25-30mins or until topping is golden. Serve hot with a generous scoop of icecream.

Tags: easy, fish, simple