Smoked Trout

Birthday celebrations always bring out the best in us! Especially when it means that we can prepare some favorite foods for the celebrations. When the lucky birthday person is also a student with no time to cook for themselves, there is no holding back! So, Luke was the lucky recipient of the birthday feast this week, which meant that mom was able to go all out and spend a blissful Saturday preparing beef bourguinon, meatloaf,  smoked trout, smoked ribs, sweet potato and peanut curry soup and gingerbread pudding cake.

 Actually, the smoked trout was a bit of an afterthought,  but since the smoker was going to be fired up for the ribs, we decided to try smoking some trout at the same time. There was definitely a full cooler going in to Toronto on Sunday. We had a wonderful birthday lunch-dinner, despite the day-after affects from the party thrown by his friends the night before.

Leslie, Casey, Dylan and Luke get ready to hit the books again (or maybe their beds!) after multiple birthday celebrations

Smoked Trout

This is great served with rustic bread and potato salad. It is also  delicious served in a salad. We especially like it combined with apples, walnuts, beets, red onions and celery with horseradish dressing! Or, try it in this spread(recipe below), as we did this weekend. Everyone loved it!

2 boneless trout fillets (1 lb each)

Brine:
1 cup water
3 tbsp salt
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp lemon/dill salt

Place trout in a large glass casserole dish, skin side up. Combine the brine ingredients and pour over the trout.  Allow to cure in the brine in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours.  Remove trout from brine, rinse in cool water and then soak in fresh water for 10-15 minutes. Pat dry.
Prepare Broil King Keg to smoke trout for 2 hours at 200-225° C.  THrow a handful of soaked apple wood chips on the coals. Place trout on the grids, skin side down and smoke for 2 hours. Let cool, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap. This can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
 

 Smoked Trout Spread with Horseradish



1  boneless smoked trout fillet
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup mayonnaise or sour cream
1 tbsp prepared horseradish
1 tbsp minced red onion
1 tbsp minced celery
1 tbsp minced parsley
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Combine smoked trout, cream cheese, mayonnaise, horseradish, minced red onion, celery and parsley in a large bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon, until smooth, but there should still be chunks of smoked salmon in the mixture. Add lemon juice and salt & pepper to taste. Serve on top of squares of  pumpernickel bread and on slices(1/3" thick) of seedless cucumber, that have a bit of the centre scooped out to create a small impression to hold the smoked trout spread.