Trout and Prosciutto

 
Not a great photo - ran out of ham and had too much wine by this point. (Again.)

We're off to Portugal soon with the grandparents (whoo-hoo!  holiday + babysitters!) and I've been scouring Elisabeth Luard's excellent book for recipes that we should cook while we're out there.  One of them intrigued me - for trout wrapped in thin ham or bacon and fried.  While the recipe calls for whole trout, the photo clearly shows fillets and that's what I fancied doing this weekend.

Parma ham is what we had, but Iberico would also work well here - you want something with a little saltiness and even possibly a little smokiness with the trout fillets.  I also discovered that filleting a trout isn't as easy as filleting a sea bass - no idea why, but it all got a little messy.  This isn't really a problem here, as any offcuts were used in the onion relish. 

Trout & Prosciutto with Onion Relish
(Serves 2)

2 trout, filleted (4 fillets), neatly trimmed (keeping any offcuts)
8 slices prosciutto
Black pepper

1/2 large Spanish onion, very thinly sliced
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
1/4 red pepper, very thinly sliced
1/4 yellow pepper, very thinly sliced
Splash vermouth (or sherry, or white wine at a pinch)
Off-cuts of the trout

Toasted hazelnuts or almods, sauted potatoes to serve.

For the onion relish, begin by gently cooking the sliced onion in the olive oil until softened.  Add the peppers and continue cooking gently for at least 20 minutes until all is melting and soft.  Add the vermouth.  Keep cooking while you do the trout.

For each fillet, lay two slices of ham out on a board, slightly overlapping.  Lay the trout on top, season with pepper (the ham should provide enough salt) and wrap, securing with a cocktail stick.
Put a large frying pan over a high heat and add a little olive oil.  When the pan is hot, quickly fry the trout fillets - a minute and a half on each side should do it. 
Meanwhile, add any offcuts of the trout to the onion relish and stir through.

Serve...

tags: fish  trout  

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