TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Truite aux AmandesPan-Fried Trout with Almonds
- Total
- 40 min
- Difficulty
- ★★★☆☆
- Serves
- 4 servings
- Prep 15 min
- Cook 25 min
Season whole rainbow trout and coat lightly in flour just before cooking. Brown both sides in butter, then lower the heat to cook through. Toast sliced almonds separately and add them toward the end. Serve the fish with lemon juice and parsley, topped with almonds and a hot butter-and-white-wine-vinegar sauce.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
Authenticity Score
This is the standard recipe, exactly as it’s made where it comes from — the highest Authenticity Score possible. Substituting ingredients changes this score; the app shows exactly how, ingredient by ingredient.
Ingredients (4 servings)
100Authenticity- Whole rainbow trout, gutted4 fish1 fish about 250 g; intended for cooking.
- Fine salt5 g
- Ground white pepper0.5 g
- Cake flour30 gFor coating; about half will actually adhere.
- Unsalted butter70 g50 g for cooking (25 g per 1 skillet); 20 g to finish.
- Sliced almonds75 g
- Lemon juice30 ml2 tablespoons; from 1 lemon.
- Flat-leaf parsley5 gFinely chop the leaves.
- White wine vinegar15 ml1 tablespoon.
Method
Toast the almonds; dry and season the trout
- 1 Spread 75 g sliced almonds in a dry skillet. Toast over medium-low heat for 4–5 minutes, shaking constantly, then transfer to a plate.
- 2 Rinse the cavities of 4 rainbow trout under running water to remove blood; thoroughly pat the insides and outsides dry with paper towels.
- 3 Season both sides and the cavities with 5 g salt and 0.5 g white pepper.
- 4 Finely chop the parsley leaves and squeeze the lemon to obtain 30 ml juice.
Ready when
Continue when the almonds are evenly pale golden and the trout surfaces are dry.
Caution
Once the almonds begin to color, they can burn quickly.
Flour just before cooking and brown both sides in butter
- 1 Spread 30 g cake flour in a tray; coat both sides and the cavities of the trout. Hold each fish by the tail and tap gently to remove excess flour.
- 2 Melt 25 g unsalted butter in each of 2 skillets, 30 cm in diameter, over medium heat. When the foam subsides, arrange 2 trout in each, alternating heads and tails. Bend the tails slightly if they reach the rim.
- 3 Cook without moving for 3 minutes. Support the fish from the back with a spatula and fork to turn, then cook the other side for 3 minutes.
Ready when
Continue when both sides are pale golden and the skin releases from the skillet.
Caution
Flouring too early makes the coating damp and causes uneven browning.
Lower the heat, cook for 10–12 minutes and add the almonds
- 1 Lower to medium-low heat and cook for 10 minutes, turning once. Reduce the heat further if the butter threatens to burn.
- 2 Add half the toasted almonds around the trout in each skillet and coat them with butter.
- 3 Open the thickest part of the back and check that the flesh is white and opaque all the way through. If it is still translucent, cook for another 1–2 minutes at a time.
Ready when
Continue when the thickest part of the back is white and opaque through the centre and the flesh at the base of the dorsal fin starts to come away from the bone.
Caution
Blackened butter tastes bitter.
Plate with lemon and parsley; pour over the hot butter sauce
- 1 Transfer the trout to warmed plates and sprinkle with 30 ml lemon juice and the chopped parsley.
- 2 Collect the almonds and pan juices from the 2 skillets into 1 skillet. Add 20 g unsalted butter and 15 ml white wine vinegar and heat over medium heat.
- 3 When the butter foams, pour it and the almonds over the trout.
Ready when
The dish is ready when almonds cover the trout and the foaming butter runs onto the plates.
About this dish
At Lake Annecy in Savoie, trout cooked in butter as meunière has long been regarded as a specialty. The version with almonds became established in restaurants, though many gourmets dismissed it. Writer Jean Giono, a great lover of trout, is said to have rejected it: do not cook it in butter or add almonds; this is cardboard work rather than cooking.
France's native river trout are called fario. Fish caught with a permit are eaten at home rather than sold. Trout farming spread after rainbow trout were imported from America in the early 20th century, and rainbow trout still account for most farmed trout.
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