Brown Butter Trout with Lemon and Capers – Recipe!

I’ve always enjoyed a good piece of fish for dinner and what’s especially nice — trout cooked in brown butter, lemon and capers.  This simple dish is made in minutes on the stove top and tastes sweet and buttery with slight citrus notes from lemon juice and zest.  Salty capers adds a contrast that works beautifully with a trout filet, and finishes the dish all in one pan.

Trout is a fish that’s not expensive and easy to find in the springtime and summer.  It’s color varies from white to pink, depending upon the type, and it’s easy to prepare because it cooks up fast due to it being relatively thin.  One tip is to watch your time — it’s important not to overcook it.  I like to serve my trout with some green vegetables and asparagus seem to be hot on my list this spring.  If you double the recipe, use two pans so you don’t crowd the fish — you want to achieve a crispy skin on the bottom.

Ingredients

2 trout filets, about 1/2 pound each

1 tablespoon white rice or gluten-free flour

pinch of salt and pepper

2 tablespoons butter

1 lemon, zest and slice in half

1/4 cup capers, any variety – drained or washed

(Serves 2-4)

To Prepare:

1. Pat fish dry with a paper towel and dust fish with flour, salt and pepper.
2. In a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon butter.  Melt and swirl around pan to coat bottom.  Add fish flesh-side down, and cook for 3 minutes.  Flip over and reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until skin is deep golden brown.
3. Add remaining butter and let melt around edges of fish.  Add juice of 1/2 lemon and swirl to combine with butter.  Add capers over top of fish, remove from heat.  Squeeze remaining lemon juice over top.
4. Plate fish and spoon with any brown butter from pan.  Sprinkle fish with lemon zest and serve with vegetable.  Enjoy!