Super Easy Paprika and Spice Grilled Trout

Huge brook trout awaiting their fate!

As you may notice, I have been on hiatus from blogging, as well as cooking and musing about food because this spring we welcomed Matilda Mae into our lives and have been doing much more eating, feeding, and baby-cooing than cooking. Priorities have been focused on sleeping, drinking water, and just scrounging up something nutritious to eat rather than imagining up clever preparations or guilty pleasures. Raw veggies and store-bought hummus have been a staple in my diet these past few months and the only cooking I have done is using up fresh ingredients before they go bad but only if Daddy is around to care for our sweet precious. Such is the life of a new mother.  Every week I have been learning to accomplish a bit more than the last and I (now we) am(are) up and around NYC once again. Our little dumpling is turning 3 months this week and we are continuing to inch back into a routine of normal functioning (Our "new normal", that is!).

My in-house fisherman and future fisherwoman

My hard-working husband is finished for the semester with his intense MFA program and I am more than relieved to have him around and less stressed out. We have even made our way out of the city a few weekends and he finally got a fishing trip worked in after wishing for free time for months. We joined him, of course, so we could visit with family while we were up there.  Stream fishing is what he does and brook trout makes a regular appearance in my life and my kitchen. For years we just stuffed those suckers with onions and butter and grilled them (my husband's own recipe). We then began to beer-batter and fry them. Of course, that is tasty, but not the healthiest preparation and really greases everything up. Last week, when he and my father-in-law (also now known as PopPop) headed down to the stream, they returned home with 3 big ones and 1 really big one. Of course, I hadn't given any thought whatsoever to preparation and ended up improvising a not-so-basic marinade made of very basic ingredients I dug up in my in-laws' kitchen. This turned out so tasty I just made it again to finish off the rest of the trout for tonight.

Honestly, she seems more interested in the tutu than the fish...

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This marinade would be great on all types of fin fish and also would perk up chicken breasts nicely. It also works into many different menus. You can serve it with Asian or Latin-inspired sides or with traditional American sides, too.  Happy grilling season!

Super Easy Paprika and Spice Grilled Trout

4-6 Trout fillets (with skin on if grilling, deboned as much as possible)

MARINADE:

1/2 t garlic powder

1 T sweet paprika

1/2 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t sea salt

1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

3 T extra-virgin olive oil

1 T white wine or red wine vinegar

2 T fresh lemon juice

1/4 c orange juice

1 T honey

Crushed red pepper to taste (opt.)

Rinse fillets well and lay out on a plate or platter in a single layer. In a small bowl, whisk together marinade ingredients and evenly pour over fish fillets. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper, if you like. 

Grill skin side down on high heat for 5 minutes and do not turn. Trout is too delicate and you will lose it in the grill. If you need to cook it inside, just broil on high with skin side down on a broiler pan lined with foil for easy cleanup.

Serve with a fresh lemon wedge.