Quick and Easy Baked Trout

During the week I love making dishes that are fast and easy while boasting big flavour. This one pan trout dish can be served over a variety of greens or vegetables and garnished with a healthy squeeze of fresh lemon.  I make this meal at least once a week using Trout, Salmon or Arctic Char. I bake it for 12-15 minutes and place it over fresh greens and vegetables to serve it as a meal size salad. The glaze is made up of just a few ingredients, but when they are mixed together something magical happens. The sugar in the maple syrup thickens as the marinade is baking, creating a wonderful sweet and savory crust on the exterior of the fish. IT IS SOOOOOOOO DARN DELISH! If you like fish and want to make a meal that takes 5 minutes of prep work, 12-15 minutes of cook time and packs AMAZING flavour, than this is a dish for you.


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
For every two 6oz skin on filets you will need:

Glaze

1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. Maple syrup or honey
1 tsp. low sodium soy sauce
juice from half of one large lemon- cut the other half into wedges for the garnish.
pinch of cayenne pepper and black pepper
1 tsp. dried parsley- if you have fresh parsley, garnish with it at the end and omit from the glaze

Add all the glaze ingredients into a baking dish and mix until well combined. Dip the fish on all sides and place the filet skin side down.  If you wish to add onions and jalapenos to the baking dish, place them under the fish or around the sides of the dish.  Bake the fish for 12-15 minutes until desired temperature is achieved. Trout, Salmon and Arctic Char all have a high fat content making the fish more forgiving when slightly over cooked.

NOTE:

There are three easy ways to know your Trout, Salmon and Arctic Char are cooked but still moist.

1. The skin will turn opaque in colour.
2. The flesh will start to flake apart when you apply gentle pressure to the thickest part of the filet.
3. Place a thermometer gently into the thickest part of the filet to gauge the temperature. It should be a MINIMUM of 145 degrees. If you cook Trout, Salmon or Arctic Char for less than 145 degrees there is a risk that you have not killed all the organisms in the fish which could make you sick.


Once the fish is cooked, place it over greens and vegetables of your choice. In the picture above I used left over vegetables from a previous meal and fresh spinach and cucumber. Squeeze the lemon over the fish and vegetables and dig in!

Enjoy!
A