Trout

I've always been a big fan of using local shops rather than supermarkets wherever possible.  To an old socialist like me it's much better to spend your money in the community you live in - wouldn't you rather benefit the bloke who lives up the road rather than some faceless multinational? - and from a purely selfish viewpoint you'll probably be getting better quality at a better price than the supermarkets can offer.

 

Last night, for example, we had burgers.  The burgers came from the butcher and for £1.49 each they were enormous, and quite clearly made from decent mince.  They were proper red - not that weird grey colour of cheap burgers.  The buns came from the bakery at 30p each - the same price as supermarket rolls and far superior.  I hate the texture of Chorleywood bread, but these were the real deal.  Veg came in the form of corn on the cob from the greengrocer at 50p each - far better value than those weird pre-packaged ones that sell at over a pound for two half-cobs.

Anyway, I didn't write a specific blog post for that as it was just heating up bought products rather than actually cooking something but tonight's dinner follows the same principles.

We're very lucky to have a proper fishmonger here in Godalming - an apparently dying breed, but this one opened just a couple of months back and good luck to him - and I popped in yesterday and walked out with two trout, filleted for me by the fishmonger and all for a grand total of £4.40.

I've never really understood the price of fish.  I'll be honest - one of the reasons I chose the trout was that it was the cheapest thing in there.  But trout's delicious, and while I know that lobster is also delicious I don't think it's six times more delicious, although it is six times the price.

This technique for cooking fish is easy, doesn't create much mess and doesn't smell - in a small flat you're always aware that the smell of frying fish tends to hang around.  By cooking the fish inside a parcel it's almost steamed, so it's healthy and tender. It gives a huge amount of freedom - you can mess about with the fillings and herbs to your heart's content.

The only thing you need to put in is a drizzle of oil and a splash of liquid (white wine's favourite), otherwise choose the flavourings you want.  In the mood for something Asian-style?  Ginger, garlic, a chilli pepper and soy sauce might just fit the bill.  With the trout I went for dill and tarragon, with a bit of lemongrass.  I had a tin of anchovies in the cupboard, so I chucked them in with the oil they were stored in instead of salt.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First of all, tear off a nice big sheet of tin foil.  Lay one of your fillets on it, skin-side down.  Now lay your flavourings on top of that - today dill, tarragon, lemongrass, a splash of white wine, some anchovies and the oil from the anchovy tin.

Now lay the second fillet from the same fish on top, flesh down, as if to recreate the fish with tasty flavourings inside.

Now lift up the edges of the foil and bring them together, folding the edges over to make a sealed foil pouch.  Make one of these per person for a small fish like trout - if you're using a bigger fish, one fillet per person might be enough.

Cook in the oven at 180C for about 15 minutes.  Thin things like fish fillets don't need long and although it's difficult to overcook something cooked like this in steam it is still possible and overcooked fish is dry and unpleasant.

Once it's cooked, open your parcels, take out the lemongrass and serve with salad.