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    TROUT AND EGGS
April 19, 2010

Catch and Eat: Celebrate trout fest

Celebrate Nat'l Trout Festival with its signature food

By VANESSA McCRAY

TRAVERSE CITY -- The Trout Town Country Cafe's namesake food finds itself in dishes from breakfast to dinner.

The Kalkaska eatery's chef and owner Dan Bloomquist also is preparing for his busiest week, when all things in town are trout-related. The National Trout Festival runs Wednesday through Sunday, April 21 through 25, in Kalkaska, offering a coronation of a trout king and queen, parades, fireworks, a carnival and fishing contest.

During the festival, the cafe sticks with its regular menu items, including a breakfast of trout and eggs. The restaurant serves sauteed rainbow trout with hash browns, two eggs and a side of choice. It's a pretty popular dish, and the eatery makes up 20 to 30 of them a week, Bloomquist said.

"I was told I'd be a fool not to put that on our menu," he said.

He also offers a dinner plate that features a Parmesan crusted rainbow trout. Trout has a similar flavor to salmon, and is not as mild as a codfish, he said.

"It does have a little more of a distinct flavor," Bloomquist said.

The cafe gets its trout in frozen, and Bloomquist has found sauteing the trout works well. He also prepares a barbecue ribs and trout combo that calls for deep-fried fish.

The trout festival will challenge local restaurants to prepare their best trout dish for its opening day Taste of Trout event. The bite-sized tasting starts about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the chamber of commerce office. Festival President Diana Needham hopes at least five restaurants will offer fish-inspired creations, which can get quite unique.

"One time we had trout pizza," she said.

Bloomquist shared this recipe for Parmesan breaded rainbow trout with lemon herb butter. It's a versatile recipe that could also use brown trout or salmon. He suggested serving it with a side of wild rice pilaf.

Lemon herb butter

1/2 lb. salted butter, lightly softened

1 T. lemon zest

1/2 t. dried dill

1/2 t. dried thyme

A couple shakes of black pepper

Mix ingredients with whisk. Place butter mixture on a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap, roll it up in a quarter- to half-dollar-sized log and refrigerate.

Rainbow trout

2 8-oz. trout fillets, rinsed and patted dry

1/2 c. fine bread crumbs

1/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

Pinch of salt and pepper

Lightly salt and pepper flesh side of trout fillets. Combine bread crumbs and cheese and sprinkle the mix on the flesh side of fish. Press the crumbs so they adhere to the fish. Preheat a large, nonstick saute pan on medium to high heat and coat generously with olive oil or clarified butter. Place trout fillets in pan, breaded side down and turn heat to medium. Cook until golden, about 5 to 6 minutes. Flip over and cook additional 2 minutes.

Thicker fillets may take a bit longer. Test doneness by fork and look for fish to flake apart easily when done.

Place fillets on a serving dish. Slice lemon herb butter into thin discs, remove wrapping and place on finished fillets.

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