to think what the bloody hell?

[startrek90]

My MiL has just dropped by and given me a freshly caught (this afternoon) trout. What in fresh hell am I supposed to do with it?!?

I love my MiL and was very appreciative but all the time thinking wtf?!? Tbf she is lovely and is never very odd. Just thought this was quite random.

So wise MNers what the hell do you do with a random trout?

Yum aren't you lucky!

Olive oil, lemon, grease proof pater and in the oven easy peasy

Omg. When I was newly married and moved to Cornwall someone gave us a whole pollock. It was huge. I hadn't a clue what to do with it, so I just put it in the freezer. Every time I opened the freezer it just looked accusing at me with its fishy eye, but I kept procrastinating on it. In the end we named him Fred, and he lived in the freezer for two years until we moved.

Delicious!!! what the two people before me said with addition of might not be a bad idea to check weight/temp on Google :)

Jhm your post came up after mine that is hilarious!!!

Wrap it in foil with some butter and herbs, bung it in the oven for 20 minutes. Easy. Have you really never cooked fish before?

Foil, butter and lemon like everyone's said, then serve with watercress, boiled new spuds and (most importantly) scatter the fish with toasted flaked almonds. Yum.

One of my uncles once posted a freshly caught trout to my mum, wrapped in reeds and newspaper and placed lovingly in a big envelope. Although it was pretty messy when it first arrived, and there were several cats following the postman to the door, it was delicious, panfried.

What a lovely treat! Like the others said, lots of lemon juice & slices of lemon in the cavity, knob of butter/drizzle of olive oil, wrap in foil and bake for about 20mins (could check slightly earlier though, as you don't want to overcook)

My uncle is a keen fisherman and presents us with lovely fresh cleaned trout every time we see him. It's bloody lovely.

Oh and can we swap MILs?

FloggingMolly I am not upset just bemused...rather nice but random thing to give me.

In answer to qs. No I have never cooked fresh fish before.. I can't afford it. I have only ever had fish fingers or the frozen packet stuff.

And no you can't have my MiL she's too lovely

You can't afford fresh fish? It's not very expensive.. cheaper than meat I think.

Why didn't you just say to your MIL 'Oh, wow, thanks! Any tips on best way to cook it MIL?'

Slap her with it?

At some times in the year you can get trout for less than a pound a fish

Go to the fish counter in the supermarket and get what's cheap (usually the sustainable ones)

Don't freeze it! Fish is so tasty when it's lovely and fresh. Don't be scared of it - wrap in foil and bung in the oven for twenty-ish minutes til it's flaky like the inside of a fish finger (but pink not white). If you like lemon, herbs, etc than put some of that on it, but it'll be lovely just on its own. No need for mastercheffery.

I have no idea how to clean and gut it though. YouTube it if they haven't done it for you. My old neighbours occasionally have me fresh fish but they always cleaned it for me.

trout are ridiculously easy to cook and to de bone.

piece of tinfoil, stick trout on it whole, stick under the grill. Cook about 5-10 minutes, then turn over (fish slice is good for this)

When cooked, gently slice down the spine and then slide the flesh off moving from spine to tummy. It slides down over the ribs and off.

Eat with new potatoes and peas, and lots of butter

Feed it to your dog/cat if you don't want the hassle

Fish isn't expensive. Something like mackerel costs pennies from the fish counter sometimes.

Has it got a slit along it's belly? If it has then it's been gutted . If not you'll have do it yourself.

Oil a large piece of foil and lay the fish on top. I don't use wine in cooking either. I would go with asian flavours. Ginger, garlic, chilli, lime zest and soy. Wrap it up sealing it tightly but make sure there is enough foil to make a kind of tent so it steams. Turn the head and tail ends of the parcel up. Bake it in the oven for about 15 mins for a 1lb trout. Stir fry veggies and noodles or rice with it. Yum!

DS went mackerel fishing recently. They got to keep what they caught. I ended up with 15 uncleaned and ungutted mackerel .

You can see if it is gutted, the stomach is an empty hole.
You can leave the rest (head tail etc) until it is cooked and then just don't eat them

If it isn't gutted it is very easy, make a cut down the stomach from his chin to his tail. Do this over a bowl! empty the contents of the stomach into the bowl. It will mostly just fall out, you may need to pull it out with your fingers. It is easy to know when you have it all as all the messy stuff comes out and what is left is solid fish round the edge of the hole and bones. So, guts, liver, etc should all come out, you may need to use a knife to disconnect the last bits.

tickory depends what you mean by not expensive. I have a very tight food budget. I go to aldi or lidl which has frozen fish. When its a choice between breaded fish for 99 cents or fancy fresh fish for 2:39 for two pieces I choose the 99 cents bag that will feed my family.

I did thank my MiL. I am really grateful that she thought of us. She has no idea what to do with it either lol. Her brother went fishing this afternoon and caught too much. He gave lots to MiL who gave both me and her daughter some.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I am super grateful for your help :)

Surely you have a smoker?

wrap in foil, put butter on it, cook in oven, not sure for how long.
or just grill with butter on, again not sure of timings.
delia will know
i love trout

Keep calm, its only a fish!!

It has been years since I cooked one, but I used lemon slices and herby butter, wrapped it in foil and baked in the oven. It was unusual for me, but nice.