I recently spent a morning fly-fishing in Scotland. A few quiet, contemplative hours, focused on the flow of the river, the buzz of insects and the fluid synchronisation of arm, rod and line. Needless to say, I caught absolutely nothing — not a salmon, not a trout, not even a minnow. Then again, I’m not sure catching stuff is entirely the point.
I hadn’t been fishing since I was a teenager. I used to go with friends to a reservoir on the edge of Exmoor. They always caught something. I just stood there thrashing at the water with growing frustration. I once got so fed up with the futility of the chase that I took my rod to the other side of a road bridge, where a feeder stream backed up against a flood drain. In went my Zulu fly — black with a red flash — and, a minute or two later, out came a brown trout. I took it home and cooked it for supper. It tasted particularly sweet.
Maybe it’s encroaching middle age, but the idea of flicking the water with a feathered hook has again started to seem rather attractive. It has also reminded me how rarely I cook either salmon or trout. These days, you’re more likely to land them at the fishmonger’s than at the riverbank, but before fish farming, both were essentially summer fare, so this seems like a good time to redress the balance. I just wish I could say I’d caught them myself.
Spiced salmon with cucumber, radish and yoghurt
A dish of contrasts: lightly spiced fish with a cooling salad. It also works with thick trout fillets.
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Serves 2
2 salmon fillets, skin on
Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
150ml Greek yoghurt
½ clove of garlic, crushed
Lemon juice
A small handful of mint leaves
1 cucumber
6-8 radishes, thinly sliced
1½ tsp caster sugar
1 tbsp white-wine vinegar
A tiny pinch of cayenne (optional)
Pat the salmon dry with a bit of kitchen towel and season well on both sides. Rub the skin side with a small splash of olive oil, then dust with cumin and paprika. Put to one side.
Mix the yoghurt with the garlic and add a small squeeze of lemon juice. Season well, then mix in 3 tbsp of olive oil and 1-2 tbsp water, so you have a loose, dolloping consistency. Tear half the mint leaves into the yoghurt and stir in.
Trim the cucumber and shave it lengthways into a bowl with a swivel peeler. Add the sliced radishes, sugar, vinegar and 1 tsp salt. Stir and leave to stand for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat a frying pan and add a good splash of oil. Add the fish, skin down, and cook over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes until the skin is crisp and the fish is half cooked through. Turn skin side up and cook for another 2-3 minutes until there is just a thin line of pink left in the middle.
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Drain the liquid from the cucumber salad, squeezing it lightly with your hands. Tear in most of the remaining mint and divide the mixture between a couple of plates. Put the fish on top, skin up, and top with a blob of yoghurt, a splash of olive oil and a few extra mint leaves. Add a whisper of cayenne on top of the yoghurt if you want.
Trout with hazelnuts and lemon
A variation on the French classic truite aux amandes, the buttery richness of the sauce cut with a spritz of citrus brightness.
Serves 2
2 tbsp flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 thick trout fillets
1 tbsp sunflower oil
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp chopped, toasted hazelnuts
¼ lemon, plus lemon quarters, to serve
2 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus a few extra leaves for sprinkling
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Mix the flour with some salt and pepper and spread it over a plate. Pat the fish dry with a bit of kitchen towel, then dip the skin side in the seasoned flour.
Heat the oil in a frying pan large enough to hold both fillets side by side. Add the fish, skin side down, and fry for 3-4 minutes, or until crisp and nearly cooked through. Season the flesh side, then turn and cook for 30-60 seconds more to finish. Remove the fillets from the pan and put on two warm plates.
Carefully wipe any burnt bits from the frying pan with kitchen paper, then add the butter and hazelnuts and wait until the butter froths. Remove the pan from the heat and add the lemon juice and parsley, quickly stirring everything together to make a sauce. Pour over the fish and scatter with a few extra parsley leaves. Add a lemon quarter to each plate.
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Salmon with spring vegetables and basil
Simple flavours, cooked together in parcels, so they create their own sauce. You could also try it with thick fillets of sea trout if you find them.
Serves 2
6 small new potatoes
6 asparagus tips
4 tbsp butter
3 small spring onions, finely sliced
2 small handfuls of peas
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
10-12 big basil leaves
2 salmon fillets
2 slices of lemon, plus a couple of good squeezes of juice
2 tbsp dry white wine
Heat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the new potatoes for 15-20 minutes, until tender right the way through. Throw in the asparagus tips for the last 3 minutes.
Drain the potatoes and asparagus and run quickly under the cold tap to stop them cooking. Leave to drain, then cut the potatoes into slices.
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Cut two sheets of baking parchment (or double-thickness foil) each about 30cm x 50cm. Rub 1 tbsp of butter onto the middle of each sheet. Divide the potatoes, asparagus, spring onions and peas between them, season well, then toss together with a few torn basil leaves.
Season the salmon well and place on top of the vegetables. Top with a slice of lemon, another couple of basil leaves, a small squeeze of lemon juice, a splash of wine and the remaining butter. Fold the longest side of the baking paper over each fillet, then fold in the sides and end, sealing them well, so the salmon is contained in a loose bag. Make sure the parcel isn’t too tight around the fish. You want room for steam to circulate.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. If the parcels are tightly sealed, they should inflate as they cook. When the time is up, open the bags, slide the fish and vegetables onto two plates and pour over the juices. Check the seasoning, sprinkle with a little black pepper and tear over another couple of basil leaves before eating.
Whole baked trout with tarragon and cream
Here, the fish gets the simple cream and herb treatment.
Serves 2
2 whole trout, about 300g each
A splash of olive oil
Half a medium onion, very finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A small handful of tarragon leaves, finely chopped, plus a few stems
3 tbsp butter, softened
75ml dry white wine
A small handful of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
75ml double cream
A squeeze of lemon
Heat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6. Rinse both fish inside and out and pat the skin dry with kitchen towel. Put to one side.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the chopped onion with a pinch of salt over a gentle heat for 6-8 minutes until soft but not at all brown.
Scatter the cooked onions over the base of a roasting tin — you want one large enough to hold both fish side by side with a little extra space around them. Sprinkle the onions with salt and pepper and season the fish well inside and out. Add a couple of tarragon stems to each cavity, along with a small knob of the butter, then smear the rest of the butter over the top of the fish.
Place the fish in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Baste with the buttery juices, then add the wine, plus two-thirds of the chopped tarragon and parsley. Return to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes, then baste again. Finally, pour the cream around the fish and return to the oven for 5 minutes more.
Add a squeeze of lemon and stir or whisk the juices together. Check the seasoning, then scatter the remaining parsley and tarragon over the top.