Cookin' ATVS Style: Pan-Fried Trout a la Meuniére

Summertime in the Gomila family usually includes a good supply of Louisiana Speckled Trout fillets, courtesy of my dad and his fishing camp in lovely, scenic, Dulac, Louisiana. Here's something I threw together with some we caught last Wednesday.

Ingredients

6 trout fillets (7 ounces or so)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups rice flour
1 cup egg wash (1 egg, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup water)
1 pound butter (4 sticks)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp minced parsley
Salt/pepper/Cajun seasoning to taste

Rice flour is much lighter than the typical all-purpose flour, and helps give this a much lighter texture, at least by fried fish standards.

Instructions

1. In a heavy bottomed skillet (cast iron is best, obviously), heat the oil over medium to medium-high heat. You want the oil hot enough to get a seal on the fish, but not so much as to start smoking.

2. Wash your fillets well and pat dry with paper towels. Season with salt/pepper/seasoning.

3. Batter in egg wash and then rice flour. A good tip for flouring seafood is to lightly dredge them in the flour, first, then drip in the egg wash and back into the flour. The first layer of flour helps the egg wash stick to the fish, which helps the second layer of flour stick better as well, to firm a nice seal in the hot oil.

4. Sauté the fillets in the hot oil, about 3-5 minutes per side, until golden brown on each side. How long it takes may vary based on the size of your fish pieces. Always fry/sauté fish like this in batches, because crowding the skillet lowers the temperature of your oil too much, which may affect how the fish batter seals. And you don't want greasy fish.

5. When done, set the fish aside somewhere to keep warm, and turn the burner off under the skillet. Add the butter to the skillet - the residual heat should get the melting process started. Once it's going you might want to turn the heat back on at a medium-low setting, and make sure to scrape the pan bottom to stir up as much of the browned flour/fish bits as possible for the sauce. When the butter starts to brown slightly, stir in your lemon juice and parsley, and immediately remove from heat.

Plate the filets and serve with a generous portion of the butter sauce over them. Pairs great with your favorite potatoes and/or steamed vegetables. Serves six.