An Cooking

Creamy Smoked Trout Casserole

This is a rather rich and correspondingly delicious dish that can be put together in advance. I would normally consider it a little hot and heavy for the summer, but its been cool and rainy here so it seemed like a good idea. You could make it all year round with frozen peas.

I made the components in advance then assembled them and baked them later. It really broke up the work and made this easy to put together. Not that theres anything hard here; just a little time-consuming. It did take longer to bake than it would have otherwise as it went into the oven cold. Thats something you will need to take into account.

4 to 6 servings
1 hour 45 minutes - including 45 minutes advance prep


Cook the Rice:
2/3 cup brown rice
1/3 cup wild rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups water

As ever, put the above ingredients into your rice cooker, cover and turn on. Or, put them into a good-sized heavy-bottomed pot and bring them to a boil. Reduce the heat to very low and cook, without disturbing, until the rices are cooked and the water all absorbed; about 45 minutes.

Make the Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
3 cups whole milk or light cream
250 grams (1/2 pound) smoked trout

Heat the butter in a heavy-bottomed pot and add the flour, salt, pepper and lemon zest. Cook steadily, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes. Add the cream slowly, stirring well after each addition. Once it is all in, continue cooking and stirring the sauce over medium heat until it thickens.

Remove it from the heat, and add the trout, skin removed and broken into bite-sized crumbles.

Assemble and Bake the Casserole:
1 quart fresh peas (2 cups once shelled)
3 or 4 garlic scapes, or green onions
2 cups chopped button or shiitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil

Shell the peas. Put them in a strainer and pour boiling water over them, then set them aside. Chop the garlic scapes or green onions finely. Clean and chop the mushrooms, discarding the stems if you use shiitakes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Heat the oil in a large skillet and saute the mushrooms and garlic scapes or onions until soft and slightly browned.

Mix the rice, sauce with fish and the vegetables together in a 2.5 quart casserole dish. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour or even a little more, until hot through and browned slightly on the surface. Exact time will depend on how hot the mixture was when it went into the oven.




Last year at this time I made Guatamalan Radish Salad.