Trout Baked in Red Wine

Summary

Yield
Servings
SourceClassic Food of Northern Italy
Prep time30 minutes
RegionItaly

Description

Trout Baked in Red Wine

Here's a strange and delicious dish from the mountains of Valle d'Aosta.

It's odd to see fish and red wine together. It works here, but you want to use a lighter Piedmont red like a Dolcetto or a simple Nebbiolo, or an inexpensive Pinot Noir or Chianti. 

You make a sauce by preparing a regular soffritto and cooking it in the wine, then you thicken it with a roux, so there's flavor and texture that you want to complement the trout. The fish is baked whole or headless in the skin, so when the diner takes a fish and opens it on the plate, s/he can spoon on as much or as little sauce as desired.

Ingredients

2eaTrout (cleaned and opened)
1⁄2eaCarrot
1eaShallot
1⁄2eaCelery rib
1clvGarlic
2eaParsley sprig
2eaSage Leaf
1tFresh Thyme
1eaBay Leaf
2TOlive oil
2cRed Wine
1TButter (Unsalted)
1⁄2TFlour

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Clean the trout and set them in a baking pan with low edges.
  3. Chop together finely the carrot, shallot, celery, and herbs, except for the bay leaf.
  4. Saute the vegetables and herbs with the bay leaf in oil for about 5 minutes.
  5. Add 1 cup of the wine, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes more.
  6. Optionally, puree the sauce.
  7. Put the fish in the oven and bake for 5 minutes.
  8. After 5 minutes, pour the other 1 cup of wine around the fish and cook for 10 minutes longer.
  9. While the fish cooks, make the roux.
  10. When the fish is done, gently move them to a serving platter or to individual plates.
  11. Strain the wine into a small saucepan and whisk in the roux, then add the mirepoix mixture. Add salt if needed.
  12. Either serve the sauce on the fish or in a sauceboat.

Notes

This makes a very fine dinner for company with Polenta con Funghi or with Potatoes in White Butter Sauce.
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