Roast Trout with Lemon & Herbs

📝 Ingredients

• 4 whole trout, gutted (about 280 g each)
• 800 g waxy potatoes
• 2 leeks (about 300 g once trimmed)
• 2 lemons (1 sliced for stuffing, 1 in wedges for serving)
• 1 bunch of dill (about 20 g)
• ½ bunch flat-leaf parsley (about 20 g)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3 tbsp olive oil (2 for the vegetables, 1 for the trout)
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large baking tray or large roasting dish
• Chopping board
• Knife
• Kitchen paper
• Pastry brush
• Spatula

📖 Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 210 °C. Peel the potatoes, rinse them and cut into 4 mm slices: any thicker and they won't be cooked at the same time as the fish. Dry them in a clean tea towel.
2. Cut off the dark green part of the leeks, split them in half lengthways and rinse under the tap, separating the leaves to wash out any soil. Slice into 1 cm half-moons. Peel and slice the garlic.
3. On the tray, toss the potatoes, leeks and garlic with 2 tbsp oil, salt and pepper. Spread out in an even layer and roast for 20 min, until the edges of the potatoes start to turn golden.
4. Meanwhile, rinse the trout inside and out under cold water, then pat them thoroughly dry with kitchen paper: dry skin roasts instead of steaming. Cut 1 lemon into 8 thin slices.
5. Season the inside of the trout with salt and pepper. Fill each cavity with 2 lemon slices and a few sprigs of dill and parsley, keeping about a third of the herbs for the end. Brush the skin with 1 tbsp oil and season with salt.
6. Take out the tray, stir the vegetables, then lay the trout on top side by side. Roast for 18 to 22 min at 210 °C, until the flesh is opaque and comes away from the backbone when lifted with the tip of a knife, near the head.
7. To serve, cut the skin along the back, lift off the top fillet with a spatula, then pull the bone out by the tail: it comes away in one piece with the head. Check with your fingertips that no small bones are left.
8. Chop the remaining dill and parsley, and cut the second lemon into wedges. Divide the vegetables and fillets between the plates, scatter over the herbs and serve with the lemon wedges, to squeeze over the fish as you eat.