Fred, the fish we stuffed

I tend to meet my meat before I cook it. By meeting my meat I don't actually mean seeing the live animal. That would be creepy. I just try to become close to it by naming it. I only name whole animals, like a whole bird. They are rather cute and I feel a closer connection to them than to chunks of chicken thighs, you know.

Fred

So, meat Fred, the trout. I bought him at a supermarket. At most supermarkets you can ask the butcher to debone it for you. Or like me you can forget to do so and bring Fred back home and ask your husband to do the deboning. It is a surgical procedure and my hands are too shaky for that.



In this recipe I put some barberries inside Fred. You can find barberries in the US in middle eastern markets or in the jungle. Their taste is very close to cranberries so go ahead and use cranberries if you don't want to go through the trouble of finding barberries.

Stuffed fish

Ingredients

• 1 Rainbow trout
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic (or more)
• 2 tbsp pistachio slivers
• 3 tbsp barberries or cranberries
• 2 tbsp dill
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Cooking Directions

1. Mix salt, pepper and 1 tbsp of dill with 1 tbsp olive oil. Cut the garlic cloves into slices and add to the mix. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
     
2. Rub the mixture inside the fish. Let the fish rest in the fridge for an hour. You can put it in a plastic bag or leave it in a sealed dish.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Preheat the oven to 350F. Put a pan over medium high heat. Add a tbsp of olive oil. Add the red onion and saute for a few minutes. Remove the fish from the fridge and move the garlic slices to the pan. Add the pistachios and then the barberries and 1 tbsp of dill to the pan and turn the heat to low. You don't need to have this mixture on heat for a long time.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Cover an oven tray with aluminum foil. Stuff the fish with the mixture and bake it for about 25 minutes.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Serve over dill rice or with fried potatoes.