Oven-Baked Trout with Potatoes

Name: Oven-Baked Trout with Potatoes, Fennel and Onion
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Trout 1 (350–400 g); Lemon 2–3 thin slices; Salt (sea salt works) 1 small coffee spoon; Mixed peppercorns, mustard seeds, coriander seeds 1 small coffee spoon each; Dried herbs (oregano, basil, sage, mint) 1 small coffee spoon; Onion 1; Fennel 0.5 bulb; Olive oil for frying and brushing; Potatoes 2; Tomato 1; Garlic to taste; Parsley for serving

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1 h 30 mins

How long do you bake a whole trout in the oven?

A whole 350–400 g trout bakes for about 30 minutes in an oven preheated to 210°C, in an open dish with potatoes that are already baked. If liquid collects in the dish and gently bubbles, the fish will be done in 10–12 minutes. To check, lift the edge: when done, the inside of the trout turns pale pink.

Just 30 years ago, the people’s fish were hake and pollock. Not to mention herring, which you can hardly call fish; it’s more of an appetizer, anonymous but incredibly tasty and coveted.

And I can still picture those huge frozen blocks of water and hake carcasses. My mom worked in a store back then, and I remember the loaders breaking those slabs apart with a crowbar or an ordinary two-kilo weight.

The hake was thawed and usually fried or stewed. The smell of fried hake is the smell of my childhood. Compared to those days, now is practically a time of plenty.

The variety of fish and seafood in the shops is simply amazing. Fish that are exotic to the older generation: sea bream, sea bass, eel, all sorts of shellfish, big shrimp. And not so long ago, “red fish” simply meant fish with red rather than white flesh. It made practically no difference what it was: trout, pink salmon, salmon and so on. Just red fish. In the vast majority of cases, it was lightly salted or smoked.

Fresh-frozen whole fish were much rarer, and even then only in specialty (large) stores, closed distribution outlets or expensive collective-farm markets. I remember from childhood that my parents would go to Bessarabka or the Volodymyrskyi market in Kyiv for “red fish”. Not every day, of course, but before big holidays.

We usually buy a large trout or salmon, cut it into steaks and thaw them as needed. But now and then we get small whole trout for individual servings. Trout is very tasty simply fried with a minimum of spices. Grilled trout steaks are a truly amazing dish, especially with a complex vegetable side. Pasta with red fish and tomato sauce turns out really tasty at our place; it’s a much-loved home dish we make often. Or trout Bergamo style, a recipe brought back from Italy. Hot-smoked salmon doesn’t count, that’s next-level stuff, and neither does the delicious pasta with salmon. But the tastiest of all is a single-serving trout baked in the oven.

Trout is very tasty simply fried with a minimum of spices. But the tastiest of all is a single-serving trout baked in the oven with potatoes.

Ingredients

1 serving

Trout 1 (350–400 g)
Lemon 2–3 thin slices
Salt (sea salt works) 1 small coffee spoon
Mixed peppercorns, mustard seeds, coriander seeds 1 small coffee spoon each
Dried herbs (oregano, basil, sage, mint) 1 small coffee spoon

Onion 1
Fennel 0.5 bulb
Olive oil for frying and brushing

Potatoes 2
Tomato 1
Garlic to taste
Parsley for serving

Step-by-step recipe

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Preparing and marinating the trout

Naturally, thaw the fish first. Scale the trout – it scales easily.
Rinse the fish thoroughly under running water.

With kitchen shears, cut through the rib bones inside the belly cavity next to the backbone. Remove the backbone completely, trying not to damage the trout or cut away too much flesh.
Carefully pick out all the large bones, trimming them with a knife where needed. Essentially, you should end up with a skin-on fillet with the tail sticking out.
In a mortar, combine salt (sea salt works), mixed peppercorns, whole mustard and coriander seeds, and a dried blend of aromatic herbs (oregano, basil, sage, mint and so on).
Proportions to taste, but for one trout a small coffee spoon of each is plenty.
Grind the mixture, but not to a dust; a medium grind is fine.
Sprinkle the inside of the fish with the spices, again to taste. Set aside a little of the blend (a couple of pinches); the rest you can keep for later or throw away.
Put 2–3 thin slices of lemon inside the fish and refrigerate it for 30–40 minutes.

Making the side and the filling

While the fish “rests” in the cold, take care of the side dish. Here you can let your imagination run free. We really liked a side of baked potatoes, tomatoes and garlic, the way we made it when we stuffed mackerel, so we decided to repeat it.

Bake two potatoes, cool them to room temperature and peel. Scald the tomato with boiling water and peel it. Finely grate the garlic.
At the same time, peel the onion, cut it into thick strips and fry in olive oil until soft. Coarsely chop the fennel bulb and cook it with the onion until golden. No need to add spices or salt.

Assembling in the dish

Take the fish out of the fridge and remove the lemon slices. Lightly grease a baking dish with oil. Lay the lemon slices the fish marinated with on the bottom. Thinly slice the prepared tomato and put a few slices on the bottom of the dish.
Lay the trout in the dish, opened out. Spoon the fried onion and fennel inside.
Fold the fish closed over the filling. The trout should end up lying on its side.
Arrange the side dish around the trout: pieces of baked potato mixed with pieces of tomato. Brush the vegetables with the grated garlic and sprinkle with a little of the remaining spice blend. Sprinkle the rest of the spices over the fish.
Carefully drizzle the vegetables and fish with olive oil. It’s even worth brushing the fish with oil. But don’t pour on too much.

Baking

Put the dish with the trout into an oven preheated to 210°C. Bake for about 30 minutes, roughly as for oven-baked mackerel.
Then again, every oven is different. I suggest checking the fish for doneness by carefully lifting the edge. When done, the inside of the trout turns pale pink. But if liquid starts collecting in the dish and gently bubbling, the trout will be ready in just 10–12 minutes.

Serving

Transfer the baked trout to a plate. Arrange the potatoes and tomato around it and garnish with parsley.
Serve the baked trout only hot, with a glass of white table wine.

Calories and macros

845 kcal

Serving ≈ 760 g

Protein84 g43% of kcal
Fat24 g28% of kcal
Carbs59 g30% of kcal

100 g111 kcalProtein 11.1 gFat 3.2 gCarbs 7.7 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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To Get It Right

Which trout to use

A small whole trout of 350–400 g is just right for one serving. Both rainbow and river trout work. Thaw frozen trout in advance, ideally overnight in the fridge.

Potatoes – only baked in advance

Raw potatoes won’t have time to cook while the fish bakes, so bake them in advance and put them in the dish already cooked – they’ll just soak up the aroma of the fish and spices. Readers say you can bake any other fish this way too.

If you have no fennel

Make the filling from fried onion alone, and add a celery stalk for aroma. The filling still doesn’t need spices or salt – the fish has plenty.

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Questions and answers

How long to bake trout in the oven?

About 30 minutes in an oven preheated to 210°C. If liquid starts collecting in the dish and gently bubbling, the trout will be ready in just 10–12 minutes. Check by carefully lifting the edge: when done, the inside turns pale pink.

How do you keep trout moist in the oven?

Don’t overbake it and don’t skimp on oil: drizzle the fish and the vegetables with olive oil, and brush the trout itself too. Lemon also helps – inside while it marinates and under the fish in the dish.

What is the best marinade for oven-baked trout?

You don’t need a liquid marinade. A dry blend is enough: grind salt, mixed peppercorns, mustard seeds, coriander and dried herbs in a mortar, sprinkle the inside of the fish, tuck in 2–3 lemon slices and refrigerate for 30–40 minutes.

Can you bake trout in foil?

You can, but in this recipe the trout bakes in an open dish, so both the fish and the potatoes brown. In foil the fish steams in its own juices instead, and usually needs about 20–25 minutes.

How do you bake trout steaks in the oven?

With the same spices and lemon, on a bed of tomatoes. A steak 2–3 cm thick bakes faster than a whole fish at 210°C – about 15–20 minutes.

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