It has been a great week for us—we’ve been up at Miminiska Lodge, doing some work. I love the break away from the office, and lodge life is amazing! This week we had some friends of ours join us from Thunder Bay. While here, they took in some brook trout fishing on the Albany (at an undisclosed location). Although we practice catch and release only for brook trout, we do treat ourselves once a year (or maybe longer) to one freshly caught fish. This time, we tried it in a way I’ve never had it done before. Smoked!

Here’s how we did it:
We took an old BBQ, a couple of chafing dish fuel canisters as the heat source, some pucks of freshly chopped pin cherry wood (apple wood has a nice flavour too) and got started. We lightly salted the fish with kosher salt, loosely wrapped it in tinfoil, and put it into the smoker.
Within an hour of smoking the trout, we poured some maple syrup on, and waited impatiently for the magic to be done. When it was ready, we transferred it to the walk in cooler to have it cool and relax. We were chomping at the bit to try a morsel, but figured we should wait it out. Our patience paid off. We inhaled it—it was fantastic. We ate it as it was—just enjoying the flavours of the fish. The chef in me came to life and it got me thinking about how to mix it up a little. Here’s what I came up with:

Smoked trout hors d’oeuvres with horseradish cream cheese

*Of course, the recipe can also be done with salmon—it’s just as yummy.

Directions:

• Take 1 cup of cream cheese, add 1 tbsp of creamy horseradish, a bit of lemon zest, and beat until smooth.
• Choose your favourite base—crackers, baguette slices, etc.
• Spread cream cheese mixture over base, add a slice of smoked trout, top with sprigs of fresh dill, a slice of red onion, and a caper –voila! A tasty app for your next big dinner or party

Happy Cooking,
Krista