Grilled Trout & Zippy Green Sauce

While grilling season is still here, pick up a whole fish from your local waterman and add this easy tangy sauce to celebrate the flavors of the season!

By / Photography By | September 15, 2021

Ingredients

SERVINGS: 2-4 Serving(s)
  • 2 whole brook trout, gutted and de-boned, heads and tails left intact
  • 2 organic lemons, sliced thinly
  • 1-2 additional lemons, cut into halves
  • 1 bunch fat asparagus spears, woody ends snapped off
  • 2 large handfuls garlic scapes
  • Grapeseed or other high-heat cooking oil spray
  • Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
  • Flake salt
  • Freshly cracked pepper
For the Zippy Green Sauce
  • 2/3 cup garlic chives, coarsely chopped
  • 2 anchovies
  • 2 cups cilantro leaves and their stems, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
  • Kosher salt & freshly cracked pepper to taste

Preparation

Blend all sauce ingredients together at high speed in a blender to achieve a loose, uniform purée. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Pat trout dry and salt and pepper each inside and out. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons sauce into each fish cavity, just enough to coat. Shingle lemon slices on top of the sauce down the length of the trout, 3-4 slices per fish. Using kitchen twine, carefully tie fish at the swell of each lemon to keep all as a tidy bundle as you grill.

Place lemon halves, garlic scapes, and asparagus in a metal roasting pan, drizzle generously with olive oil and season with kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper, and toss to combine.

Prepare a chimney for the grill. Remove grill grate and loosely bunch newspaper at chimney base. Fill with charcoal. Light paper in a few places to ignite the charcoal. Once flames subside coals will begin to glow. Once they begin to turn white, transfer charcoal into a pile at the center of the grill for direct grilling.

Replace grate, carefully spray with high heat cooking oil, and place fish in the center, nestling lemon halves, asparagus, and scapes around. Replace lid and grill undisturbed for 3-4 minutes. Carefully turn fish to second side – the first side should show some char – and grill for another minute or two. Turn scapes and asparagus as needed for a mixture of softened and charred spots. Gently transfer grilled fish to a serving platter. Arrange the grilled lemons and surround the lot with the tangle of grilled scapes and spears. Spoon additional green zippy sauce onto each fish and serve at once.

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Crispy Soft-Shell Crabs with Corn & Avocado

Ask your waterman for whole, live, cleaned soft-shell crabs, gather sweet summer corn fresh from the market, add an easy guacamole, and enjoy this delicious ode to summer. 

Ingredients

SERVINGS: 2-4 Serving(s)
  • 2 whole brook trout, gutted and de-boned, heads and tails left intact
  • 2 organic lemons, sliced thinly
  • 1-2 additional lemons, cut into halves
  • 1 bunch fat asparagus spears, woody ends snapped off
  • 2 large handfuls garlic scapes
  • Grapeseed or other high-heat cooking oil spray
  • Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
  • Flake salt
  • Freshly cracked pepper
For the Zippy Green Sauce
  • 2/3 cup garlic chives, coarsely chopped
  • 2 anchovies
  • 2 cups cilantro leaves and their stems, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
  • Kosher salt & freshly cracked pepper to taste
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