Herb-crusted trout with potato gratin recipe

Name: Herb-crusted trout with potato gratin recipe
Cook time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Ingredients: 4 x 180g skinless, boneless ocean trout fillets; sea salt and freshly ground pepper; ½ lemon, plus wedges to serve; green salad, to serve

Neil Perry

September 7, 2017

Herb-crusted ocean trout with potato gratin.William Meppem

Time:30 mins - 1 hourServes:4

Amp up the pleasures of fabulous, fresh seafood with a little strategic seasoning and added texture.

Ingredients

4 x 180g skinless, boneless ocean trout fillets
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
½ lemon, plus wedges to serve
green salad, to serve

For the herb crust

4 slices sourdough bread
2 tbsp grated palm sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
250g unsalted butter, softened
leaves from ½ bunch coriander
5 coriander roots, crushed into a paste
1 large knob ginger, peeled and cut into fine julienne
6 small red shallots, finely sliced
20 coriander seeds, toasted and ground

For the potato gratin

4 bintje potatoes (about 400g), peeled (if unavailable, use very small sebago potatoes or 2 larger sebago)
50g unsalted butter
200ml pouring cream
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. To make the herb crust, lightly toast the bread, remove crusts and process into breadcrumbs. Caramelise the palm sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat (about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally). Remove from heat, add the fish sauce, stir to combine and allow to cool. Place all the other ingredients in another bowl with the breadcrumbs and add the cooled palm sugar mixture. Mix until the crust sticks together. Place mixture between two sheets of baking paper and flatten on a bench until about 5mm thick. Refrigerate until needed.
3. To make the potato gratin, cut the potatoes into 1mm slices. Butter a 30cm x 20cm baking tray and place the sliced potatoes in a line along the tray, overlapping slightly. There should be about three layers.
4. Gently melt remaining butter, mix with cream and pour mixture over potato slices. Season with salt and pepper. Cook in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until the cream has been absorbed and the potatoes have browned. Remove from oven and keep warm.
5. Meanwhile, to prepare the fish, remove baking paper from the herb crust, place the fillets on top and cut crust to fit each piece of fish. Line an oven tray with baking paper. Slide an egg flip under the crust, turn over so the crust is on top of the fish and place on lined tray, crust side up.
6. Bake fish in preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until just cooked. Turn off the oven, open oven door and rest for 2 minutes.
7. To serve, cut the gratin into four pieces about the same size as the fish. Remove the fish from the oven, place a piece on each plate with a squeeze of lemon. Top each with a piece of gratin and serve immediately with a green salad.
If you like this recipe, try Neil Perry's Chilli salt prawns