Rainbow Trout Pasta

Rainbow Trout Pasta

Firstly, I must apologise for my absenteeism. Turns out that third year at university is pretty hard work, and takes over your entire life for weeks at a time, subsuming any non-dissertation related activity that you might fancy doing. Luckily, my dissertation is now done and dusted with, so I am free to return to writing about delicious food, rather than witchcraft in Papua New Guinea, which is quite a relief I must say. I need to make the most of it given that I have another 11,000 words to write in the next few weeks which may result in my disappearance from the blogosphere once again!

This recipe is a very quick and easy, but still delicious, midweek meal. It takes only 15 minutes to throw together, and can be adapted to fit whatever it is you have in your fridge and cupboard. I have used rainbow trout as it is a more affordable option than salmon, but you could use salmon if you are more monied than me. I am often wary that since giving up meat I might not be getting all the right nutrients, or enough of them, so I think it is good to throw in some fish every now and again – especially if it is sustainably sourced.

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 small red onion

2 cloves of garlic

150g chestnut mushrooms

1 fillet rainbow trout, de-skinned and de-boned

225g pasta

Handful of frozen peas

Salt and pepper to season

Method

Set a pan of salted water to boil on the hob, cover and leave until boiling. In the meantime, finely slice your garlic, mushrooms and onion. Hopefully, your fishmonger will have filleted and de-boned your fish, but if not the easiest way to get the bones out is with a pair of tweezers under a bright light! As you will see from the photo, our fishmonger did a rubbish job so my boyfriend took on the tweezering! Once you have de-boned the fish, you can gently peel the skin off the back, making sure not to take any of the flesh with it. Once de-boned and de-skinned, finely slice the fish fillet.

Matt and the tweezers

Place a frying pan with 2 tbsp vegetable oil on the hob, and once hot, add the onion. Fry the onion until transparent and soft on a low heat (this will take about 5 minutes). After the onion has been frying for 5 minutes, add the pasta to the boiling water and leave to cook for approximately ten minutes or until al dente.

In the meantime, once the onion is soft, add the garlic, mushrooms and fish to the frying pan and fry for a further 7-9 minutes. Once the fish is cooked, and the mushrooms are softened, pour the cream into the pan and turn to a very low heat (you don’t want the cream to curdle or separate). Season with salt and pepper.

Approximately 1-2 minutes before the pasta is ready, add the frozen peas to the boiling water so they get a chance to defrost. After a couple of minutes, take the pasta and peas off the heat and drain. Take the sauce off the heat, and stir the pasta through the sauce. Season to your preference, and then tuck in!

This is a very speedy recipe so there isn’t really any point at which I could give you something to do, but if you fancy it whilst you’re eating, or simply at any other time when you’ve got a moment to spare, have a look at bloodandchampagne. It is a photographic blog, of beautiful interiors and houses of a minimalist, industrial and scandinavian ilk. The photos, and their contents are inspiring; now my dissertation is finished, I intend to while away many an hour gazing at them, and dreaming that perhaps one day my home will look something vaguely like this. Perhaps yours already does, or perhaps this will give you some ideas if you are bored of where you’re sat whilst you read this!