Poached Brook Trout and Fiddleheads - Caribou, Maine

We headed North for our yearly Memorial Day trip to Caribou, Maine to visit with family, help around the house, and do some Aroostook River trout fishing.

After a cool and rainy Saturday of fishing, the weather cleared and was absolutely beautiful on Sunday. We spent the morning and again later in the evening on the riverside; walking around in our waders in the water, hunting fiddleheads for photos, seeing otters jump in the water beside us, and fishing for trout around the currents and inlets feeding the vast, swollen river.







All fish were safely released, save for this 16-inch, 1.75-pound, absolute beauty of a Brook Trout - which we kept for dinner.



We cleaned the trout by removing the head, making a slit up it's belly and removing the guts, scoring and scraping out the blood vessel on the underside of the spine, and rinsing inside and out really well.



After drying with a paper towel, we rubbed a thin layer of olive oil inside and out, followed by a Lemon Pepper seasoning mix. A few lemon slices and chopped chives in the cavity, and we folded it all up in an aluminum foil pouch, leaving one end open. Into that open end we poured about a 1/3-cup of white wine, then we sealed it up tightly.



That beautiful trout poached on a medium-high grill for what should have been 10-12 minutes (we went too long by accident, 10-12 minutes is the right time). Then, remove carefully and slide that fresh trout meat right off the little bones. So fresh and delicious - on the table just an hour after it was caught.



With our wonderful local Brook Trout, we had locally harvested, riverbed-grown Fiddleheads - par-boiled for 10 minutes and then sauteed with butter until soft and delicious. A very local meal, thanks to the Aroostook.



We had a great trip and can't wait to head up again in September for some end-of-the-season trout fishing.

Fiddleheads and Fishing

UPDATE to our last post...! We made a trek up to Northern Maine to visit the Boston Chef parents over Memorial Day Weekend, and we decided to do some fishing along the Aroostook River. Lo and behold, what was growing wild along the banks of the river, but... fiddleheads!



We didn't catch much more than some little guys, but we had fun out there!

Fiddleheads on the Roof

...or should I say fiddleheads in my belly? That's where they'd all end up even if I had 20 lbs of them. Such a treat since they're only in season for a few short weeks every spring. I actually had been wondering why I hadn't seen any around when my father who lives in Maine informed me that the season was running about 3 weeks behind due to late snow in northern Maine. You see fiddleheads can't be cultivated, although I'm sure some farmers have tried. They come to the consumer via foragers, much like certain mushrooms do. They generally grow on steep riverbanks (or at least that's where I used to pick them) in late April and early May. They are the young coiled version of a Ostrich Fern, and have a sort of earthy mushroomy asparagus taste to them. Their preparation is simple -- soak in some water to remove some of the scales, then blanch for 2 minutes and dump out the water thereby removing more of the scales. Bring some fresh water up to a boil and then add the fids for 13-15 minutes more. Serve warm tossed in some butter and salt. That's it!


We served ours up with some roasted sweet potatoes and pork tips...super yummy, and I already can't wait until next year!

What we've eaten...

Wow, it's been a while. What can we say - we've been busy. Busy with our new house, busy with weddings, busy with the summer. But also, busy with the new grill and other warm-weather-type cooking! We'll be better, we promise. Until then, here are just a few photos to catch us up...

BBQ-seasoned Pork "country style ribs" with Grilled Zucchini and Mashed Cauliflower... these are those fake, boneless pork "ribs" that you see in the store - I believe they are really just a pork loin cut up in a funny way. Regardless, the way it is cut is perfect for grilling:


Cajun Grilled Chicken Tenderloins with Fiddleheads and Spaghetti Squash - love spaghetti squash with parmesan cheese, and the fiddleheads are still in season! Finally ran out of our sampler of Penzey's Cajun Seasoning... need more!


Beer Can Chicken! - hahaha, it came out ok. We put some melted butter and fresh thyme in with the beer and cooked this thing on the grill. Flavor was nothing special - we are so used to brining our chicken at this point that I guess we are spoiled to any chicken that isn't! There is no other way to permeate chicken meat other than brining in some way, a fact of which we are thoroughly convinced. Because there is no fat to melt and carry flavor, you have to get flavor in there yourself. Next time, we'll brine the bird overnight first! Looked good, though!!!
yes, there's a beer can up in there...

Steak Tips, Collossal Freshwater Shrimp, Artichokes, Red Bell Pepper - All Grilled, of course! - I screwed up the artichokes, but we'll give that another shot. The easiest, best, tastiest grilled thing in the world: 1lb steak tips, in a freezer bag with a store-bought steak seasoning mix, a couple dashes of worchestershire, a dash of liquid smoke, a splash of olive oil, and a little gulp of beer. Roll up the bag TIGHTLY and let it sit for as long as you can stand. Grill for 8-12 total minutes - depending on the size of the tip strips - turning a few times. Cannot go wrong!


We go to the grocery store now and just look around, trying to think of anything that can go on the grill. Leave us some fun/exotic/interesting grill-item suggestions in the comments and we'll make them and post pics! Thanks and we'll be back again soon...

Fiddleheads!

Ah, fiddleheads. Boy, do they bring me back to my childhood! Growing up in Northern Maine gave me major moose and potato overexposure, but it also opened my eyes to this once a year yumminess. My mother, aunt and I used to comb the steep banks of a little shaded brook each spring to fill a shopping bag for our own use. We were not fiddlehead foragers for money, as are many people. Cultivating fiddleheads is problematic so most often (maybe always), the fids you find in the store or in a jar were picked by foragers. I believe there is only one company in the U.S. (WS Wells & Sons cannery in Wilton, ME) that cans these delicious ferns.

Fiddleheads are baby Ostrich ferns that are still coiled. In my opinion, their flavor is reminiscent of asparagus with a hint of earthy mushrooms. They may appear in your local supermarket in late April and May, and run between $3.99 to $8.99/lb b/c they are so hard to find. You’ll notice that they have brown scales (paper-like covering) throughout the coil…no worries, follow the recipe below and you’ll be all set!
(Note: the picture above is of still-raw fiddleheads.)

Trim the stalk side of the fiddlehead to remove any hardened, browned edge. Soak them in water for a few minutes and rinse to remove some scales. Blanch the fids for a minute or 2 and drain. You’ll notice more scales coming off. Boil them again for another 10-15 minutes, drain and serve warm with butter, salt and pepper, yum!!! You can always sautee them up with pasta or whatever, just make sure they are cooked through by boiling first as there may be unknown toxins the are active when raw.

From TheHeartofNewEngland.com (see link below):

...the Center for Disease Control has found a number of outbreaks of food-borne illness associated with fiddleheads (nothing is simple, right?) But the outbreaks occurred when the ferns were eaten raw or lightly cooked (as in sautéed, parboiled or micro-waved). So…cook your fiddlehead thoroughly before eating them…boil them for at least 10 minutes. After than, you can eat them right away, or freeze or pickle them.

Delicious AND dangerous! We had our fiddleheads, prepared as described above, with our Shepherd's pie. They are so wonderfully tender and flavorful and a real rite of spring in New England - take advantage while they are available during these first months of spring and summer!

More Fiddlehead Information
Heart of New England Fiddlehead Info and Two Recipes
Maine Fiddlehead Recipes