North Carolina is home to brook, brown and rainbow trout that love our flowing freshwater streams. When I was a little girl in Watauga County, my granddaddy and I did our best to catch them all. Our gear was simple, just a couple of inexpensive rods he kept in his truck, a red and white bobber to clip on my line, and a can of corn niblets to use as bait. Beats me why we used corn, but the trout didn’t disagree and we almost always headed home with a creel (by which I mean a galvanized bucket) full of fresh fish for supper. Our outings established my lifelong association of trout and corn, which is the inspiration for this dish.
Ready-to-use boneless fillets cook in minutes, making them the quickest and easiest way to enjoy freshwater trout. A dusting of seasoned cornmeal adds crunch and flavor, and a quick turn in a hot skillet keeps them lighter than fried fish. Be sure to use finely ground cornmeal. Coarse meal makes great cornbread, but it won’t lose its grittiness and turn tender in the short time it takes for the trout to cook through.
– Sheri Castle
Cornmeal-Crusted Trout Fillets with Creamed Corn and Tomato Relish
Makes: 4 servings
Ingredients
For the Trout:
- 4 boneless, skin-on freshwater trout fillets, such as rainbow or brown (about 6 ounces each)
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- ¾ cup finely ground cornmeal
- ¼ cup instant flour (such as Wondra) or all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, or as needed
For the Creamed Corn:
- 4 ears fresh sweet corn, freshly shucked
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons instant flour (such as Wondra) or all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Ground black pepper, to taste
- ¼-½ cup whole milk, as needed
To Garnish:
- Lemon wedges
- Cherry tomatoes, halved and tossed with chopped herbs, salt and pepper
Instructions
- For the trout: Place the fillets in a shallow dish and submerge in milk. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. (Use this time to prepare to cook the corn.)
- Stir together the cornmeal, flour and Old Bay on a plate.
- Remove the fillets from the milk and let excess drip off. Discard the milk. Season the trout on both sides with salt and pepper, and then lightly coat them in the cornmeal mixture.
- Add half the butter to a large skillet along with enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Warm over medium-high heat. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the fillets skin-side up to the pan. (Unless your skillet is huge, you’ll need to cook 2 at a time, adding more oil and butter, as needed.)
- Let cook undisturbed for 3 minutes. Carefully flip the fillets, reduce the heat to medium, and continue cooking until the cornmeal is golden brown and the fish is cooked through, about 2 minutes more. (When cooking in batches, transfer the cooked fillets to a baking sheet in a 200-degree oven to keep warm until all are ready to serve.)
- For the corn: Cut the top half of the kernels off the cobs into a large bowl. Use the back of the knife or a spoon to scrape the remaining kernels and every drop of the milky liquid into the bowl.
- Warm the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it foams. Whisk in the flour and cook until smooth. Whisk in the cream. Stir in the corn, sugar, salt, pepper and ¼ cup milk. Simmer until the corn is just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add a splash more milk if the mixture turns dry before the corn is tender. Keep warm over very low heat. If it gets too thick before serving, stir in a little more milk.
- To serve, spoon the warm corn onto serving plates. Top with warm fillets. Garnish and serve at once.
Sheri Castle is the host of The Key Ingredient, a cooking show from PBS North Carolina. She is also an award-winning professional food writer, recipe developer and cooking teacher. The Southern Foodways Alliance named her one of 20 Living Legends of Southern Food, calling her The Storyteller. She grew up in Watauga County and now lives in Chatham County.
Keep tabs on her at shericastle.com.
