Whole Grilled Trout with Fresh Herbs, Garlic and Lemon
The beach…a three-hour canoe trip down the river…boating through four of the 22 connecting lakes that make up the Waupaca Chain o’ Lakes. Hanging out with my family and seeing old friends (some I hadn’t seen since high school!). And, of course, trout fishing. Yep, that pretty much sums up my trip home to Wisconsin this year!
When I was a teenager I couldn’t wait to get out of there. At nineteen, I actually left, moving to CA then briefly to MI, back to CA for another fourteen years, across the states to MD and finally, happily, to Northern Virginia. And now, in my late twenties (ahem…yeah, right!!), I’ve found that Waupaca, Wisconsin is now one of my all-time favorite places to visit.
Our first day there, my parents wanted to take the girls fishing at a trout farm they’d discovered just outside Waupaca. It was a beautiful place with more trout than we could possibly catch eat during our entire visit. Not exactly sport fishing, but a blast for two little girls who had never fished in their lives.
We were given very long cane poles with fresh corn for bait. A small cupful of what looked like rabbit feed to toss out to get the trout in a feeding frenzy, then toss in the bait. The corn didn’t seem to be as appealing to the fish as the feed, but that actually made it more fun since it wasn’t too easy for the girls (nice to at least have the illusion of sport!).
We took five trout home in all, two of which were pretty large. I’d never cooked fresh trout before and I was excited to try. The owner of the trout farm – an extremely nice guy who went out of his way to make sure we had a good time – gave us a complimentary booklet of recipes. Score!
I went with the recipe that recommended we use whole trout, and it was pretty fabulous. Of course, garlic, lemon and fresh herbs have a way of making everything taste pretty awesome. I was admittedly a little heebed out (<——- real word) eating the fish whole (I have a weird thing about my food having eyeballs), but it tasted delicious enough that I found a way to work it out! ;-)
Here are a few pictures from our fun day!
papa showing kylie how to fish
nana watching the fun
katie just wanted to feed them
nana made us a picnic
don't forget the cheese curds!
headed for the outhouse...
...nope, not going in there!
back at nana's with auntie kelly, waiting to eat all our "hard work"!
Whole Grilled Trout with Fresh Herbs, Garlic and Lemon
This recipe works best with a whole fish because you will want to place all the herbs inside of it. This recipe is for 2 trout, a pound each, so adjust the amounts accordingly. Original recipe doesn’t include lemon slices, but they’re a great addition!
- 2 T. fresh parsley, minced
- 2 T. olive oil
- 2 T. fresh basil, minced
- 1 T. fresh rosemary, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 t. kosher salt
- 1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper
- lemon slices
Mix together the herbs and garlic. Spread evenly inside the trout; add lemon slices (two or three per fish, depending on size). Cover and refrigerate at least two hours.
Oil cooking grate and preheat grill. Sprinkle fish with salt & pepper. Grill for 4-5 minutes on each side over medium heat or until fish is cooked through (our larger fish took a good fifteen minutes, so use your good judgement). Carefully remove fish from grill, sprinkle with more chopped parsley and lemon slices to garnish, and serve!
Note: If you have any fish left over, do what my mom did and remove it from the bones and store in a container in the fridge. Fish soup, anyone?
Enjoy!
Fresh fish always taste sweeter than those bought in the supermarkets. I remember when I was smaller, I had the chance to eat grilled fishes freshly caught from the sea. I still dream about the taste… Your recipe would make it better. Thanks for sharing!