A Walnut-Crusted Trout to Take the Dinner Party Spotlight

The holidays would benefit from a playbook, wouldn't they? We partnered with Braun Household to arm you with resources for cooking like you wrote it yourself, with a little help from their MultiQuick 9 Hand Blender.

After spending several years on the East Coast, seafood became an integral part of my diet, whether it was clams or oysters, whitefish, or lobster. When I moved back to the Midwest, it became very clear very quickly there wasn't as large of selection to cook from (something I somehow didn't realize when I was growing up in southern Indiana...). Thankfully, trout is a local catch in the Midwest, due to the Great Lakes, as well as rivers and streams in different states. When I'm buying seafood in this very landlocked part of the country, I'll often go for a lake or river fish because I or my fishmonger will know where it came from, and that wherever that is, it's not too far off.

Baking fish is often my go-to, especially for low-maintenance fish tacos. (Have you tried those yet? If you haven't, you should.) But, with trout, I love to eat the skin along with the meat, and it takes well to a nut crust—it crisps up even more with the addition. Hard herbs like rosemary and thyme match the likes of meaty nuts like walnuts, and the addition of garlic and Pecorino cheese to the crust add that needed salt into the mix. It all comes together easily in a small food chopper, which makes the topping uniform and doesn't necessitate more time at the cutting board.

Use a large cast iron skillet for this if you can, but a non-stock one will be just fine, too. I suggest working in batches; there's no need to crowd the pan as these finish pretty quickly. Add the finished filets to a dish and cover with foil if you need to until you are done with them all. Just don't keep them under wraps too long or the crust will soften. The trout turns out gorgeously brown, crusty, and delicious, and if you are into that sort of thing, somewhat healthy for a main.

Note: If the trout filets are feeling too large to handle adding and removing from the pan, feel free to cut them in half. This works well if you have a group you are serving for the holidays as the size will be just right for all the other inevitable sides of dinner parties.

We partnered with Braun Household to arm you with resources for cooking during the holidays, from the simple to the complex, with a little help from their MultiQuick 9 Hand Blender.