Pan-Fried Trout with Mushrooms and Tarragon

Ingredients

Serves 2

Prep time 15 mins

Cooking time 20 mins

• 150g chestnut mushrooms
• 150g oyster mushrooms
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½ glass dry white wine
• 80g butter
• 1 small onion
• 2 British trout fillets
• Salt and pepper
• Light olive oil – just a glug or two
• A small sprig of parsley, chopped
• A few stems of tarragon, chopped
• 1 tablespoon crème fraiche
• Half a lemon
• The very best olive oil – just a dessertspoonful or so

Method

• Lightly season the trout fillets with salt and pepper and allow them to come to room temperature.
• Quarter the chestnut mushrooms into pound coin thick slices and tear your oyster mushrooms up a little.
• Finely dice the onion and chop the garlic.
• Heat a well trusted frying pan and add a little light olive oil.
• Gently place the trout fillets in the pan skin side down and cook over a moderate heat until the skin is golden and the fish is cooked about 1/3 of the way though – this will probably take around 2 mins.
• Remove the trout from the pan and set it aside on a warmed plate skin side up. Once they have cooled a little you should be able to easily peel off the skin and discard it.
• Put half the butter in the pan along with the diced onion and garlic and fry these for a minute or two until the onion softens a little.
• Add all the mushrooms and cook over a high heat for a minute or two, then add the wine and cook down a little.
• Reduce the heat and pop a lid on the pan – allow the mushrooms to cook for another 5 minutes on very low.
• Season everything and add the rest of the butter to the mushroom pan, pop the trout fillets on top of the mushrooms.
• Replace the lid on the pan and cook for 5 more minutes on a very low heat.
• Remove the lid from the pan, turn off the heat and lift the fish out from the mushrooms.
• Add most of the parsley and tarragon and all of the crème fraiche to the buttery braised mushrooms and spoon these over the fish fillets.
• Squeeze over a little lemon and scatter a few more leaves of tarragon and parsley over the top – drizzle with very good olive oil and enjoy.