Gone Fishin'

It was a hot sultry day here in the northwest (yes, it actually was!)--a good day for heading down to the fishin' hole Huck Finn style. Okay, so maybe that sounds a little quaint for Generation X-Box here on Seattle's Eastside. But there's nothing more empowering to a little boy than catching dinner.

Our eldest daughter was off with Grandma today watching the new Shrek musical at the fancy grownup theater downtown, so we decided to pack up our little guy for a date--boy style, of course. No fancy clothes for this date...we headed straight for Gold Creek Trout Farm in Woodinville, Washington.

Besides being a handy resource for stocking your personal pond, customers can also grab a bamboo pole, thread on a little bait and wait a couple of minutes before hooking "the big one". Forget the frustration of using your whole weekend to fish at the lake and yet catch nothing. My three year old son caught 5 fish in about 30 minutes. And boy was he excited! (He even ate his catch later for dinner.) The good folks at Gold Creek do the messy work of cleaning the fish for you---ewwww yuk!

Here's what we did to make a fantastic local dinner:

Rinse the fish, season with salt and pepper. Slice some lemons. Stuff some parsley and lemon slices inside the fish and close it up like a sandwich. Throw a few pats of butter on there and seal it up tight in some foil. Grill over low heat until it's done. Mmmm....

If the thought of a whole fish intimidates you, this is a great way to try it. It's totally easy and trout is a very mild flavor--chicken of the river, so to speak. And it's okay to eat fish, cuz they don't have any feelings....at least according to Nirvana.

We served it with my favorite creamed corn recipe (based on a Cooking Light recipe a few years back). See the next post for the recipe.