Trout Dinner

We were at a Colorado state park for a few days.  We had just returned from a jaunt into town when a lady came up to Tom and offered him a pair of fresh-caught trout.  She'd caught them from the little lake just across the entrance road from our site.  She'd caught all she could and nobody at her camp wanted any more. 

So, we now knew what would be for dinner.  But, how to fix them.  Other than the obvious part of cleaning them.  My family had always put our trout in cornmeal, then pan fried them.  But, I didn't have cornmeal on board, so that wasn't an option.  But, I did have some Wondra flour, so I made a simple beer batter.

So, what's a simple beer batter?  It's flour and beer.  This is a great batter for making onion rings, too.  Adjust the proportions until you have a batter that is thin enough to work with, but thick enough to stick to the fish.

Get your batter ready.  Get your fish ready (cleaned*, somewhat dried off).  Heat some oil in a frying pan.  When the oil is hot batter the fish and gently (no splashing, please) drop the fish into the oil.  Fry until done on the first side - about 5 minutes, but will vary with the heat under the pan, size of fish, etc.  If you can see the eyes through the batter, watch for when the turn white and bulge.  Turn over and cook second side.

Serve immediately and eat while hot.  Carefully check for the tiny bones.  Most of the bones can be avoided, but generally a very small number may escape vigilance, so chew carefully so you can get them before you swallow.

This particular evening we had instant roasted garlic mashed potatoes (Idahoan brand) and a salad.

Cleaning trout (and similar fish)
If you've never cleaned a trout, here's the basic process.  Stick a sharp knife in the anus and slit the belly from the anus to where the jaw bones come together.  If you can, hook a finger through the gills and pull.  It should bring everything inside the cavity.  You can go back for anything that didn't come out.  If pulling the gills doesn't work, get hold of the guts and pull.  When all the "stuff" inside the cavity is out, you'll see a dark line behind a clear membrane.  I use my thumbnail to break the membrane, running my thumbnail up and down the backbone to loosen the dark matter.  Once it's all out you have a cleaned trout.  Some people take off the head and tail.  My family always considered them to the "handles" for eating the fish.

Super Simple Chicken Dinner

By lucky accident (too-full crock pot) I discovered a super simple, but very tasty dinner.  Only 6 ingredients, including water.  Having to cook for 2 humans and a dog every day does provide some additional challenges.  And additional rewards sometimes. 

I had a bargain package of chicken legs to fix.  Since I had to thaw the whole package, I had to cook the whole package.  The easiest thing was to use the crock pot.  Unfortunately/fortunately I didn't have enough room to add the additional ingredients I had planned (celery, onion, carrot, etc.).  Big surprise ... those ingredients were not needed at all. 

All three of us really enjoyed it.  Now, here it is for you to try.

Super Simple Chicken & Rice Dinner