Pan-Roasted Steelhead Trout
We went to Seattle for a few days last week for spring break. I had never been, and decided it was time to go, if for no other reason than to see something green growing out of the ground.
The morning after we arrived, the first thing we did was hit Pike Place Market – the original Starbucks, of course – very cool to see the original decor, and the lineup took no longer than any other Starbucks, although coming out it was already starting to wind down the street.
The market was – as the kids seem to be saying these days – totally beyond. Stall after stall selling tulips, overflowing their white buckets – a dollar apiece, or a dozen for $10. Curios shops, magic shops, book shops and candy shops, with a gum wall out one back door along a cobbled street for a dose of weirdness. (The gum wall is a back alley wall where people in line for the theatre started sticking their gum some years ago, and the concept stuck.)
Of course we milled about at the famous fishmongers, although despite all of our lingering, nary a fish was tossed. (We couldn’t very well buy any to prompt them to do their schtick, as our hotel room didn’t come equipped with a kitchen.) There was always one or two guys hanging out in front of the stall though, decked out in rubber overalls, talking to customers (or curious passers-by) about how to cook their fish. One of them repeated to half a dozen queries: “ten minutes per inch of thickness.” It was all it seemed anyone needed to know. No packaged food has an easier set of cooking instructions.
What you do to it before it goes into the oven is up to you. I happened to have a bunch of fresh dill, and so it seemed proper to chop it and scatter it over oiled trout (salmon could take its place) along with some coarse salt and thinly sliced lemon. Honestly, I think I was motivated by looks; W prefers fish baked with a smear of pesto, but it isn’t nearly as pretty.
If you want to get the fish cooking from both sides at once, heat up a pan and slap it in, then slide it into a hot oven – I usually do 425F – for 10 minutes per inch. This took a little under ten minutes.
Done like dinner! I’d feel like I was back in Seattle if the forecast wasn’t for snow tomorrow.
Have you noticed that some stores have now started labelling trout as “steelhead salmon”? Yes, I know they are the same family, but what’s going on with that? Maybe upping the price a tad by adding the “salmon” tag?!
Do you realize that these Steelhead in the PNW are EPA listed species? Completely unsustainable source. FYI in Alberta if you buy steelhead it is actually only a farmed rainbow trout.
Oh no, riley…say it isn’t so. I’ve been leaning toward steelhead trout to avoid “farmed” salmon (and all the ills that go with it!). Now you say that trout is ALSO farmed…(somehow that “little detail” is often left off the label!!). Darn, darn, darn!!
The steelhead available in my local grocery store
(southern Alberta) is farmed in Lake Diefenbaker in southern Sask. We find it quite good, much better than farmed Atlantic salmon.
Our mouths are watering over here, looks delish! Now if Spring would just cooperate 😉
Dinner looks great! I will have to remember the 10 minute mantra for our next fish. The tradition of the gum wall “stuck” you are so funny!
I just went to Seattle for the first time in December, Julie, and was as amazed by Pike Place Market (and the original Starbucks!) as I had hoped I would be. We didn’t see any fish being thrown either though! Beautiful fish. I think I had the 10 minutes per inch rule buried in my memory somewhere, but I’m so glad you brought it back to the surface – I always struggle with cooking fish.
I was lucky enough to visit Seattle this past September and fell head over heels with it, and Pike Place. What a market! Those flowers especially. And the spices. And the donuts as big as your head. Can’t wait to go back. Your trout looks delicious. I have one hanging out in my freezer and it’s soon going to be in my belly, done up just like this.
Looks delish – we had such lovely weather last week, setting records for heat. Now it’s raining again 🙁
I love trout and salmon, but just now the halibut is just coming into season, so I’ve been buying it and doing it all sorts of ways 🙂
I think I’ve had enough fish for a while …