Trout seasoned with lime and griddled, under a sauce of cream reduced with shrimp, mushrooms, onion and cheese. Thirty minutes, and the sauce is made while the fish rests.
What to serve it with
This is the question people ask most often before cooking trout, and the answer for this dish is: something plain.
The sauce is cream reduced with shrimp, mushrooms and cheese, which is rich and already doing all the work on the plate. White rice is what a Colombian table would put next to it, and it is the right call: it takes up the sauce without competing with it.
Boiled potatoes do the same job. Patacones give something crisp to break the softness. A green salad with a sharp vinaigrette cuts it. What does not work is anything else creamy, or anything strongly flavoured on its own account.
Dry the fish
The first step says to wash the trout and dry them well, and the second half of that instruction is the one that matters.
Fish that still holds water on its surface steams rather than sears. The skin sticks to the pan, the flesh goes pale and slack instead of colouring, and you lose the one thing that makes griddled trout worth eating.
Kitchen paper, both sides, right up to the moment it goes in the pan. And do not season it with the lime until just before cooking, because the juice draws more moisture out.
Five minutes for the shrimp
Shrimp are the easiest thing on this page to ruin and they take almost no time.
They go into the sauce with the cream and the milk and they are done as soon as they curl into a loose C and turn from grey to opaque pink. That is around five minutes at a gentle simmer.
Past that they contract into a tight O and go rubbery, and there is nothing the sauce can do about it. If in doubt, take the pan off the heat: they will finish in the residual warmth while you plate the fish.
The sauce has no flour in it
Which is unusual for a cream sauce and worth knowing, because it changes how you fix it.
It thickens two ways: the cream reduces as water evaporates, and the parmesan or mozzarella melts into it and binds it. If it is still thin when you want to serve, the answer is another minute or two over the heat, not a spoonful of flour.
It also means it cannot be made far ahead. A cream sauce held warm splits, so make it while the fish is resting and serve straight away.
More fish
- Colombian fried fish — the simpler treatment.
- Shrimp ceviche — the shrimp on their own, cold.
- Colombian white rice — what goes under it.
- Patacones — the crisp part of the plate.
Trout in Mushroom Sauce FAQ
Something plain that soaks up the sauce. White rice is the Colombian answer; boiled potatoes, patacones or a green salad all work. Avoid anything else creamy on the plate.
The flesh turns from translucent to opaque and comes away from the bone when you press it. Five to ten minutes depending on the size, and it goes from done to dry quickly.
About five minutes in the sauce, and no more. They are ready as soon as they curl and turn opaque; past that they tighten into rubber.
Nothing but reduction and the cheese melting into it. There is no flour and none is needed, so if it is thin, give it another minute over the heat.
Lime. Colombian recipes say limón, which is the small green lime, and it is sharper against fish than lemon.
Either, and they do different things. Parmesan adds salt and depth; mozzarella makes the sauce stringy and mild. Parmesan is the safer choice in a sauce that already has cream in it.
Yes, thawed completely and dried very well. Fish that still holds water steams in the pan instead of colouring.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 small boneless trout
- ½ lb mushrooms (sliced)
- 250 g shrimp (peeled)
- ¾ cup cream
- A bit of milk (to loosen the sauce)
- 1 onion (finely chopped)
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 limes
- Parmesan or mozzarella cheese
- Oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Notas
Instructions
- Wash the trout and dry them thoroughly. Season each one with salt and pepper and squeeze the limes over them.
- Cook them on a griddle or in a skillet with a little oil for 5 to 10 minutes, until the flesh has turned from translucent to opaque and comes away from the bone.
- In a skillet, fry the mushrooms until they have softened and given up their water.
- For the sauce, melt the butter in a skillet and soften the finely chopped onion and garlic. Add the cream, a little milk and the shrimp, and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring now and then. The shrimp are done as soon as they curl and turn opaque.
- Add the mushrooms to the sauce, season with salt and pepper and stir in the parmesan or mozzarella.
- Once the sauce has thickened, lay the trout on plates and spoon it over.
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