Line caught while on a summery cottage expedition, this rainbow trout was a gift from a friend who knows my love of food. I couldn’t help but create something with it to share with another.

There’s something about fish that always seems to remind me of the same flavours; lemon, fresh herbs and smoke. I love grilling fish but lately, I’ve been itching to try tea smoking and this was the perfect fillet to do it. Simply done with a wok and a round cooling rack, I combined the smoking ingredients of green tea, rice and sugar on aluminum foil, propped the fish over top of the rack, salt and peppered then sealed everything in with more foil.

During the ten or so minutes it took for the fillet, I picked a fennel bulb and a big handful of parsley from the garden. The fennel, was thinly sliced and sautéd in a dribble of olive oil. When it was tender, the fish was done, so I plated the fennel along with the parsley and some slices of preserved lemon, topping it all with some flaked trout and reserved fennel fronds.

Fast and elegant, yet simple enough for a picnic.
From friend to friend this fish made quite a few people happy.