TROUT WITH CHIVE BUTTER

Trout With Chive Butter image

You can make this speedy dish casual and after-work-friendly or fancy enough for company. It all depends on how you garnish it. Using trout or salmon roe turns it into something quite deluxe, with the small pearls of caviar popping in your mouth. But a sprinkling of saline capers is nearly as delicious, at a fraction of the cost. No matter which you choose, the fish itself a snap to prepare. The butterflied whole trout broils up in under five minutes. After that it's smeared with a garlicky compound butter, which melts into a fragrant, savory sauce. Serve this dish with boiled new potatoes, crusty bread or rice to catch all the buttery juices.

Provided by Melissa Clark

Categories dinner, easy, quick, weekday, seafood, main course

Time 10m

Yield 4 servings

Number Of Ingredients 8

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Ingredients

4 whole trout, butterflied
Fine sea salt, to taste
1 garlic clove, finely grated or minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon or lime juice, more to taste
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and softened
1 tablespoon minced chives, more for serving
Trout roe, salmon roe or capers, for serving, optional

Steps:

Heat the broiler. Place trout, skin side down, on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt.
In a mini food processor, or using a mortar and pestle or a bowl and a fork, stir together garlic, lemon juice, pepper and a pinch of salt. Add softened butter and chives and mash or process until well mixed.
Broil trout until just opaque, 2 to 5 minutes depending upon your broiler.
Drop spoonfuls of butter on top of the fish; it will melt immediately. Top with more chives and with roe or capers, and a little more lemon juice if you like.

Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 742, UnsaturatedFat 19 grams, Carbohydrate 0 grams, Fat 40 grams, Fiber 0 grams, Protein 91 grams, SaturatedFat 14 grams, Sodium 1092 milligrams, Sugar 0 grams, TransFat 1 gram