Last week I did a TBT cookbook review of Rosa’s New Mexican Table by Roberto Santibanez. This picture is in the book and I cannot take my eyes off it. I love trout. Pan-fried trout. Now to see baked trout nestled amidst onion and mushrooms and chiles and epizote is to suggest a new, higher trout experience.
The trout are wrapped in corn husks and then in foil. The foil packets puff up in the oven lending an immediate sense of presence and importance to the dish when you serve it. This recipe exemplifies the elegance of the dishes suggested in Rosa’s New Mexican Table.
You can, of course, make some additions to this dish. Some corn, for example, would add flavor and color and immediately seize your eye as the packets are opened.
Trout with Wild Mushroom Cooked in Foil
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients:
- 6 large pieces (2 for insurance) dried corn husks
- Two 12- to 14-ounce cleaned and boned whole trout
- About 2 teaspoons salt
- 6 large fresh epazote stalks or 12 large, leafy cilantro sprigs
- ½ large red or white onion, cut into very thin
- ½ pound mixed mushrooms, such as oyster, shiitake, and/or cremini (see Note)
- 4 serrano chiles, stemmed and cut lengthwise in half
- 4 scallions, trimmed
- ¼ cup olive oil
Preparation:
Put the corn husks in a bowl with enough cold water to cover them completely. Weight with a plate to submerge them and let soak until pliable, 30 minutes to an hour. Drain the husks, leaving them moist, and trim off any hard bits from the flat ends.
With a rack in the lowest position, preheat the oven to 400°F.
Rinse the trout under cold running water. Drain them well, but don’t blot them dry, and lay them out skin side down. Season the inside of the fish with salt and divide half the epazote stalks between the cavities of the fish. Close up the fish and season the skin on both sides with salt.
Tear off two 30-inch-long pieces of 18-inch-wide heavy-duty foil and place them on your work surface with one of the long sides of each sheet closest to you. Arrange 2 of the corn husks in the center of each piece of foil so the pointed tips of the husks face outward and the two straight ends overlap a little in the center. Trim or, alternatively, overlap the husks, if necessary, so they are approximately the length of the trout. Position the husks so they are halfway between the center of each piece of foil and the long side closest to you.
Scatter about two-thirds of the onion and two-thirds of the mushrooms over the husks. Season with salt and top with the trout. Scatter the remaining onions and mushrooms and the serranos over the trout. Season again with salt. Tuck 1 scallion along the fin side and 1 along the belly side of each trout. Drizzle the oil over the fish and vegetables. To seal the packages, one at a time, bring the long side of the foil farthest from you over the fish and line it up with the edge of the foil closest to you. Fold over ½ inch of the joined edges, then fold over again, making another Vi- inch crease, to seal that side of the package. Make three or four Vi-inch creases along the short sides to seal those sides. Transfer the packets—handling them carefully to prevent tearing the foil—to a baking sheet. The packages can be assembled up to 8 hours in advance and refrigerated. They can go directly from the refrigerator to the oven.
Bake until the packages puff up dramatically and the steam created inside makes the foil quiver, about 20 minutes (a few minutes more for packets that have been refrigerated). Gently transfer each packet to a large serving plate. Cut a slit along the long sealed edge and nudge the contents of the packet, along with all the juices, out onto the plate. Serve with the corn husks in place, or slide them out from under the trout.
Source: Rosa’s New Mexican Table by Roberto Santibanez