Bought a trout on Friday but haven't really had much time to do anything with it until Sunday evening. I fancied tandoori trout and fortunately the fish doesn't really need to marinade for any length of time, so I just knocked up a tandoori paste and got on with it.
Being me, I lit the barbecue and dug out my fish smoking box. This is a stainless-steel box with two folded grill trays that stack on top of the other.
The trick is to put wood shaving in the bottom of the box soaked in water a few hours before using it. Then when you put the fish in and put the box on the BBQ, the shavings give off the smoke that flavours the meat.
I use Alder which gives off a sweet fruity sort of smoke. Olive works well too. To simulate the tandoori effect I cook the fish in the smoker for about ten minutes which is enough to get the flavour going, then I whip it out of the smoking box and put it on foil directly on the BBQ grill. This gives it some intense heat and get the skins to blacken.
I'm afraid I got caught up in the moment and forgot to take any pictures of the trout while it was cooking. Here is the bag of wood chippings!
[Originally published 14 April 2013]
