Recipe: Trout Cooked in Newspaper

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25–30 minutes

Serves: four

Trout can be cooked in newspaper either in the oven or on a barbecue.

Preheat the oven to 200°C, or light the barbecue. Season the trout well with salt and pepper and put two slices of lemon and a sprig of fennel or tarragon, if using, inside each one.

Lay each fish on three layers of newspaper and wrap, tucking in the ends of the paper carefully. Soak the wrapped fish in cold water until thoroughly wet. Place the parcels in the oven or on the barbecue and cook, turning once halfway through the cooking time, for 25–30 minutes, or until the paper is dry.

Serve the trout in the paper and cut it open with scissors at the table. The skin will peel off with the paper, leaving a perfectly cooked, moist and succulent fish.

To cook a larger fish, weighing about 1.5 kg, in the same way, increase the amount of wet paper and the cooking time in proportion to the size of the fish.

Ingredients

4 trout, each about 350 g, gutted and washed

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 large lemon, cut into 8 slices

4 sprigs fennel or tarragon (optional)

12–16 sheets newspaper