Big Giant Trout

Wednesday 17 March

Barbara went fishing at Zehr's and brought back a vasty trout in her creel. Why have two overly large trouts when you can have one Vasty Trout? Too big for even our big frying pan, so into the oven she went, with sliced onions, drizzled with olive oil, a bouquet garni of parsley and thyme from the window box (long tendrils of parsley reaching to the sun make excellent auto-bondage lashings for the herbs) stuffed into Mr. Fish. A row of lemon slices. 400º for about 20 minutes. A little salad on the side, to be swirled in the fish juice.

Barbara expertly flensed Moby Trout but even the fillets were too large for the plates and had to be sliced in two and overlapped. Holt kept yelling, "From Hell's heart I stab at thee," at every bite, until Capt. Barbara quieted him with a belaying pin.

The wine was the Strewn Terroir Chardonnay, which we had tasted on Sunday. "Barrel Fermented Amalgam": done in half French oak, half American oak. Subtle long finish. Lots of malo-lactic butter, so perfect with the trout.