It has been a busy 6 weeks for the Davinator and Mama Dolson. Travel, work and welcoming the first guests to our ‘informal’ bed and breakfast was all consuming for most of May and June. More on the ‘B&B’ in another blog post.

We are blessed with a great local fishmonger in our town – The Fish Shop . They have amazing fish – so we eat more fish. This is good. But they have amazing fish – so sometimes we buy fish that are too big for two people. Like the lovely wild sea trout in the photo above. When we succumb to our fish greed, I try to use all of the fish at least.

This sea trout gave the two of us several tremendous meals. I cooked it in a foil bag in the oven, then made fish cakes with some of the leftovers and finally made potted fish with the last of the leftover fish. All will be explained below.

Fish in foil

Less is more when confronted with a magnificent whole fish like this wild sea trout. Never frozen and less than 24 hours from ocean to my kitchen, I want to let the lovely delicate taste speak for itself. This method has you wrapping the whole fish in foil with herbs and lemon, sealing it and baking it. A couple of simple steps and you’ve got a great main course.

Ingredients & Equipment

• A whole fish, |2 kilos or less, cleaned and gutted. Leave the head on or remove it based on your preferences, not everyone likes to look dinner in the eye.
• A bunch of fresh parsley
• A lemon, cut into thick slices
• Olive oil or neutral cooking oil
• Large sheet of foil
• Baking sheet or a shallow roasting plan

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 200C (190C fan).
   
2. Rinse your fish gently with cold water and pat dry.
   
3. Brush one side of the foil with oil.
   
4. Lay the fish on the oil.
   
5. Rough chop the parsley, stuff the fish cavity with the parsley and lemon.
   
6. Seal up the foil packet; bring the long sides together and fold over several times. Then fold up both ends towards the middle.
   
7. Put the sealed foil packet on the baking tray and place in the oven. Bake for about 45 minutes for a larger fish (say 2 kilos) but a minimum of 30 minutes in a preheated oven for any whole fish big enough to serve 2 or more people.
   
8. Remove from oven, unwrap and serve promptly.

Enjoy with boiled and buttered new potatoes and fresh asparagus. Links below to recipes to use up your leftovers.

Here’s a link to Fabulous Fishcakes to use up your leftover fish. And likewise to Potted Fish.