Newsletter May 2004
Modern Country Living - Domestic Bliss
Game On: Old Trout!
I am just back from a fabulous couple of days in Yorkshire – I
love going up North the people are friendly and so welcoming and
it was lovely to meet some Shooting Gazette readers who attended
the cookery workshops I did at T N Cook in Skipton. I always have
a great time in the North and I love the fact that the supermarkets
(Booths is a great favourite) really support the local food producers
whether they are growing vegetables or making sausages. Of course
the high streets are full of butchers and grocers and it was sheer
joy to see people supporting their local shops. With all this
clean country living in mind I must tell you about a really good
read it’s called Out of Your Townie Mind by Richard Craze (published
by White Ladder Press £7.99). I couldn’t put the book down
- it is all about everything you want to know about upping sticks
and moving to the country. Each chapter starts off with the “dream”
and then goes on to the “reality” it is a must for town and country
mice.
Recipe:
Trout with Fennel
Serves 4
4 trout gutted and ready for the oven
2-3 good sized bulbs of fennel with their tops on
Salt and pepper
Organic lemon
Pernod
175g Unsalted butter room temperature
to finish sauce:
double cream
more chopped fennel tops
lemon
25-30g butter or left over butter from trout
Remove the tops from the fennel and chop finely.
Grate the zest of the lemon and put with the fennel tops. Cream
the fennel and lemon with the butter and season with some salt
and pepper. Slice the fennel bulbs very thinly.
Take each trout and spread the inside with some
of the fennel butter. (If you have any butter use it to finish
the sauce.) Stuff each trout with the ½ of the fennel slices.
Line a shallow baking tray with a large piece of
foil – enough to be able to cover the top and envelope the fish.
Butter the bottom of the foil, scatter with the rest of the fennel
slices and lay the trout on to it. Splash over some Pernod, season
with salt and pepper and cover with the foil and make a nice tight
parcel.
Bake in a pre heated oven 200c 15-20 minutes or
until the fish is firm to the touch. Move the fish on to a warmed
plate, but reserve the juices and finish the sauce.
Pour the juices from the cooked fish into a sauce
pan and heat up. Add a little cream – about 4 tbsp and the juice
of a lemon. Heat until simmering then reduce the sauce so that
it thickens about 1-2 minutes. Whisk in the butter or any left
over butter and add the fennel tops and season to taste. Serve
the trout with the sauce and boil new potatoes.
Tip: Look out I’m coming to Lincolnshire! On May
18th I will be doing a gig for the Kesteven Children in Need charity-
“An Audience with Amy Willcock and her Aga” To book your ticket
ring Jane Joyce on 01529 497 323 – see you there!
This article by Amy Willcock appears
in The Shooting Gazette May 2004, and is reproduced here with
permission.
Click here for more of
Amy's Newsletters