Wild Foods Of Spring: Fresh Trout and Twin Crustini

by Tom DiGangi, Jr.

I set out to create a meal constructed fundamentally of wild ingredients.  This endeavor has become something of a rite of spring in recent years.  It sounds like a big project - making a meal without a trip to the store - but in all honesty, it’s pretty easy. 

The project began at six o’clock on a drizzlely Tuesday evening, after the standard vehicular combat along Interstate 78 that some people would call “commuting.”  A quick change of clothes – from blue suit, red tie and winged-tip shoes to wading pants, fishing vest and Indiana Jones-inspired hat – and I was soon casting a fly into the Pohatcong Creek that borders our property.  A dozen or so casts later, and the main ingredient was procured and dispatched, streamside.

SOAPBOX WARNING (If you are uninterested in conservation, skip this paragraph.)

Now, it is rare that I keep a fish to eat.  Years of informal fishing education have gotten at least one important concept to stick in the chowder that passes for my brain.  That is…we can’t just treat our planet like everything in it is ours for the taking.  We humans have to conserve the gifts of nature, not screw around with them, or worse, not recognize them as gifts at all.  I suppose that’s why Laura and I take so much pleasure in gardening.  You plant something.  You care for that thing.  That thing and the other things around it support each other (e.g. bees and fruiting plants).  Finally, that thing feeds you, and you start the cycle all over, again.  So, when I kept a single trout for dinner on that Tuesday evening, it was with great humility and respect, and promises to release the next dozen fish I catch and to support a Trout Unlimited stream restoration project next weekend.

ALL CLEAR (It is now safe to keep reading.)

Cleaned trout in hand, I proceeded to the garden, along the way, pulling some dandelion greens from the lawn.  In the garden, I snipped some chives and harvested some over-wintered spring onions.

Here is what I did with the ingredients, including some of our previously harvested and stored garlic, locally produced honey and unfiltered apple cider vinegar.  Laura makes her own bread.  So the only products not self-produced or local were the salt, pepper and olive oil.  Not bad.

Pan-Seared Wild Trout with Dandelion and Spring Onion Crustini (Serves Two)

Ingredients

1 Whole Wild Trout (gutted, head and fins removed)

4 Spring Onions or Scallions (roots removed)

4 Slices of Crusty French Bread (½-inch think slices)

1 Garlic Clove

3C Dandelion Greens (roots, stems and flowers removed)

½C Chives

1T Wild Flower Honey (local, if possible)

7T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1T Apple Cider Vinegar

Black Pepper (freshly cracked)

Salt to taste (sea, grey or kosher)

Procedure

To make the Crustini… Toast the bread slices until golden brown.  Rub each slice with the whole garlic clove to transfer the essence of garlic to the bread.  Drizzle 1 teaspoon of olive oil over each slice (4 teaspoons in total) and set-aside.

To make the Fish… Season the whole, cleaned fish inside and out with salt and pepper.  Add 1 tablespoon of the oil to a non-stick pan and place over medium heat.  When the oil starts to shimmer, add the fish and the spring onions to the pan.  Cook for 5-7 minutes depending on the size of the fish.  Flip the fish and cook an additional 5-7 minutes.  The onions should finish in the same time as the fish.  Remove the fish and onions from the pan.  With a sharp knife, remove the fillets from the fish by making an incision along the back (dorsal) of the fish and gently separating the fillets from the bones.  Set-aside.

To make the Salad… In a non-reactive bowl, make the dressing by whisking the honey, vinegar, salt and pepper to combine.  Slowly add 3 tablespoons of the oil while whisking to create an emulsion. Add the dandelion greens and chives to the bowl with the dressing and toss gently to coat.

To plate the dish… place a fillet in the center of each of the two plates, and a slice of crustini on both sides of each fillet.  Top one crustino with the green onions and the other crustino with the dandelion and chive salad.  Duplicate with the other plate.  Drizzle both plates with the remaining oil, and serve with a white wine such as Riesling Trocken.