Roasted Trout with Pancetta and Sage

I've been scouring my recipe clippings for dishes that use bacon, figuring I might as well kill two birds with one stone. I want to use up some of that cured pig sitting frozen stiff in my freezer, even if it is at a snail's pace and I have begun to have misgivings about the state of my arteries. When some girlfriends came for dinner last week, I looked for a recipe that'd be light and incorporate some of my bacon.

I didn't think I'd be able to fill both requirements until I stumbled across a trout dish from the LA Times - I can't find who wrote it and when - that's easy and delicious, with an ever-so-faint whiff of bacony splendor. Despite Thomas Kellerian green beans and molten chocolate cakes for dessert, that fish was the best part of our meal, hands down. You make a topping of diced bacon, shallots and sage that gets punched up with a spritz of lemon juice and strewn over the top of a broiled piece of trout. I didn't have any capers, so I left them out.

Then I closed the freezer door, hid my recipes under my bed, and went for a walk in the park. There's only so much a girl can cook and write about before smoke starts coming out of her ears.

Roasted Trout with Pancetta and Sage
Serves 4

4-5 tablespoons of olive oil, divided
1/4 cup minced shallots
2 ounces finely diced pancetta or bacon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon drained nonpareil capers
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
4 boned trout, about 7 ounces each
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Sage leaves for garnish

1. Heat oven to 500 degrees. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small saute pan and cook the shallots and pancetta until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, capers and sage and remove from the heat. Keep warm.

2. Oil a baking sheet large enough to hold all the trout in a single layer. Lay the fish skin side down on the sheet and brush the tops with oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Roast until the fish is just firm, about 5 minutes. Transfer to serving plates and spoon the bacon mixture over each fillet. Garnish with sage and serve at once.

Comments

[lindy]

Mmm. It's been some time since I had a nice piece of fish...this looks very tempting...I think I'm forming a plan.

[sam]

I am guessing you froze your bacon presliced?

I like adding a little bacon to all sorts of recipes.

if you are trying to be healthy - just one rasher can make the diffrence to a meal without blowing the calorie intake.

[Ivonne]

Ciao Luisa!

Pancetta and trout ... not a combination I would have thought of but you have made it sound and look delicious. And I'm sure the pancetta imparts a wonderful flavour to the trout.

Great recipe!

[Luisa]

Lindy - I can't wait to make it again.

Sam - I froze some bacon in slab form, some bacon sliced, and some bacon in lardon-form - as per Ruhlman's instructions. This way I can defrost a bit at a time or give people little packets of pig to take home when they visit me.

Ivonne - thank you!

[susan]

Thank you! Amazing--and so easy. No trout at the fish market today, so subbed w/ a fillet of sole. Will definitely make this again.

[Anna]

Yum - such a good week night dinner - so quick and tasty!! I used a fillet of bream - it cooked in under 10 mins.