Trout by Hey, Zeus!
Making trout in a lemon butter sauce is kind of a rite of passage around here. I tend to not cook with a recipe unless I'm baking, hence the deviation from the norm in some aspects. Basically, I just start going and don't really ever have a game plan.
BUTTER!
All told, I used about two sticks. Heat this over the lowest flame you have. Once it has melted completely and what looks like white foam comes to the surface, strain it.
Without getting too in depth, the stuff that you strain out is milk solids, which burn at a lower temperature than the rest of the butter. Therefore, by straining it out, you increase the temperature that the butter can get to. You've just made clarified butter. Protip: Slide a wet towel underneath your board to keep it from sliding all over the place.
The tools of the trade.
On with the prep! Thinly slice about three cloves of garlic. The easiest way to get a really thin slice is with a miniature mandoline if you don't have decent knife skills. If you do, just use the kunckle guard method.
Parsley...and lots of it.
Lemon juice (at least 2 large ones.)
Flour, seasoned of course.
Trout! Speckled in this case, but just about any similar fish will do. The best fish will smell like...absolutely nothing. Give it a strong whiff. At the most, maybe a mild smell of the sea. This stuff was two days old, and smelled like water. I love fresh fish. Season liberally with salt and pepper. The main flavors in this dish come from the sauce, and the natural sweetness of the fish.
Pan...butter...see where this is going? Medium-high heat, and make sure you wait until it gets foamy to start cooking.
Fry! Dredge the fish in the flour and give it a good shake to remove most of the coating. Pan-fry until a nice golden brown, and be very careful on the flip, much like I wasn't in the below picture. (Note the cracked outer skin like stuff. I fucked up.)
After you're done cooking all of your fish, wipe the pan out with some paper towels, deglaze with lemon juice, add more butter and heat until foamy, add garlic, add rest of lemon juice. Let this cook down a bit and then add the parsley.
Et, voila!
