Trout in Cartoccio
I have always lived in London, but every year without fail we went to visit family in Italy. There
is a small stream called the Giara that goes past the house where my grandmother used to live.
She was a lovely lady, my nonna Emilia. She had nothing, yet everything was mine and Marco’s,
and she loved her grandchildren with all her heart. But she would dread it when we went fishing
in the Giara with nets and brought home hundreds of tiny little whitebait. She would spend
hours gutting them, putting them in seasoned flour and then frying them. They were delicious
and she could always, always make something out of nothing.
The water was freezing, even in summer, as of course it was just melted snow. We also
used to catch trout by putting our hands under the rocks, where they would often hide, and
literally tickling their tummies. I’m not joking. It really does work. They were delicious and this is
how my wonderful nonna Emilia would cook them.
Remember that we have fabulous trout in the UK and so make sure you buy the freshest
fish you can find, which should be firm to the touch and with shiny eyes. There are some
variations to this recipe. For example, you can add some chopped leek to the fish parcels, so
you have an all-in-one dish. Or you can use wild fennel or the feathery tops of Florence fennel.
A dash of vermouth or Pernod in the parcels also works very well. Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 trout
oil
4 tablespoons fennel seeds
8 knobs of butter
1 lemon
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Gut the fish by cutting the stomach, scooping out the innards and then washing out the cavity.
Lay out four pieces of foil large enough to wrap around each fish, with the aim of making
a small parcel by crimping the foil at the top. Brush a little oil on each piece of foil, so the fish
won’t stick, and then put a fish in the middle of each.
Next, take a tablespoon of fennel seeds and a knob of butter and smear this inside each
trout. Cut the lemon into quarters, squeezing the juice on the outside of the fish, and stuff the
rind inside. Smear another knob of butter all over the skin of each fish. Season inside and out
and then close the parcel by gathering the edges and crimping the foil with your fingers. Make
sure there is some room inside for the steam to circulate and that the parcel is tightly sealed, so
that the juices mix inside and make a wonderful sauce.
Bake in the oven at Gas Mark 4/180°C for 20 minutes.
You can serve this dish either by opening the parcel and transferring all the contents to a
plate, or by placing the parcel on the plate and allowing your guests to open the foil. First they
will get steam, and then the aroma of the butter, fennel and lemon. Serve with bread and salad.
*taken from the book ‘From Seed to plate’ by Paolo Arrigo, published by Simon and Schuster