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Salt-baked rainbow trout with sage butter sauce and dill potatoes recipe

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Salt-baking creates a private steam room for the fish, trapping its moisture.
Salt-baking creates a private steam room for the fish, trapping its moisture.Christoper Pearce

Salt-baking creates a private steam room for the fish, trapping its moisture. The result is a softly steamed fish that is extremely tender. It is delicious topped with a sage butter sauce. If can't get rainbow trout, you can use snapper, pearl perch, bream or any other white-fleshed, plate-sized fish. It is, however, much better with a sweetwater fish.

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Ingredients

Salt-baked trout

  • 1kg coarse-grain rock salt

  • 1kg fine rock salt

  • 3 egg whites, whipped

  • 150ml water

  • 4 whole rainbow trout, 300-400g

  • 1 lemon, sliced into 4 rings

Sage butter

  • 200g salted butter

  • 10 sage leaves

  • 1½ lemons, juiced

  • salt and pepper

Dill potatoes

  • 1tbsp olive oil

  • 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

  • 700ml chicken stock

  • 700g chat potatoes, sliced into discs 1cm thick

  • 1 lemon, juice and zest

  • 1 bunch dill, finely chopped

  • 1 bunch shallots, finely chopped

  • salt and pepper

Method

  1. Salt-baked trout

    Preheat a fan-forced oven to 190°C. Mix the rock salts in a large bowl. Add egg whites and water and mix until well combined. Cover the bottom of a tray with a layer of salt, then place each trout on the tray and pack salt around its body, making sure to cover the mid-section of each fish. Wedge a slice of lemon behind the gill plates. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

    Sage butter

    Place a small frying pan on high heat and add the butter and sage. Cook until the butter turns a nutty brown colour. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Wait until the ingredients settle. To serve, spoon generously over the trout after peeling away the salt.

    Dill potatoes

    Place a large saucepan on high heat and sweat the olive oil and garlic before adding the chicken stock. Bring to boil then add the potatoes. Reduce to a simmer and cook until potatoes are soft (approximately 20 minutes). Wait for the stock to reduce to a sauce, then add the lemon juice, zest, dill and shallots. Season with salt and pepper.

    TIP

    Be careful not to burn the butter sauce. You want a nutty flavour to develop; a burnt flavour will overpower the trout.

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