ONE DAY RILEY brought home a rainbow of about thirteen inches and we decided to see how big a meal we could make of it. I suggested Trout Cakes. Most of my family has feasted on my Crab Cakes recipe at one time or another, and this was no different. It’s quick and easy and can be modified to taste. Trout Cakes love a bin of leftover veggies.
1 trout, cleaned
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 egg
1 dollop mayo
1 dollop mustard
1 handful fresh parsley, chopped
breadcrumbs
lemon juice
olive oil
butter
seasoning, such as Old Bay
1. Brush trout all over with olive oil, place on foil in a roasting pan, and broil until barely cooked through. The meat should separate easily from backbone and skin yet still be very tender and moist. Make sure to fetch out all bones. Set meat aside.
2. Saute diced onion and red pepper in butter. Remove to large bowl. Mix together with the trout meat, mayo, mustard, egg, breadcrumbs, parsley, and a squeeze of lemon. Add seasoning and spice to taste.
3. Form into patties or balls or whatever, and fry in butter until cakes are lightly browned on the outside.
Depending on how much filler you add, you can stretch a single pan-sized trout a long way. We ended up getting three hockey puck-sized cakes out of the first half of the batch before refrigerating it for later. The second half yielded more than a dozen mini cakes that the adults ate as an appetizer that night with a little sriracha sauce dabbed on top.
Wonderful! BTW, David Duncan was my brother David’s best friend when they were kids growing up. I spent many hours at the Duncan’s after school. He was the nicest of my big brother’s friends to a little sister. And he references my father in his first book The River Why. Small world. Great writer. Your trout cakes look very tantalizing, might try that one myself with store-bought salmon from PCC.
suppeou 9trueve! ttMy family homesteading in western Colorado in 1857; part of the original homestead is now a national park. But I agree, very few thing compare to a fresh trout right out of the water into the skillet. I started trout fishing early as well, but much older than Riley…I was 4 or 5. The kids will remember this forever no matter where they travel. Than you.
Reminds me of the strange, yet interesting man Richard Brautigan and his less than famous, but entertaining “Trout Fishing In America.”