Does anyone have a good simple recipe for baked trout?

Aluminum foil, olive oil, black pepper, sea salt, and lemon juice. Wrap it up in the foil. Works for lots of fish. My personal easy favorite. If you like dill, use that in place of the black pepper.

For how long do you cook it?

Depends on the size of the trout or other fish, but usually 325-350 F and between 15-25 minutes.

He's right, this is the best all-around fish recipe -- any fish.
A little Chachere's instead of the black pepper, a ground up leaf or two (the skinny little needle-looking leaves)of fresh rosemary instead of dill all work nicely -- sometimes squeeze an orange on the fish instead of the lemon and use less pepper -- a little sweeter taste, but very nice with a sweet potato side (either baked like a regular potato, or diced and baked with a spritz of olive oil on the diced spears).

Here's another good side, also tightly foil wrapped, either baked or put on the grill, one for each person: 1 irish potato, 1/2 to 1 onion, 3 or 4 tablespoons margarine or butter, salt and pepper. Might have to cook longer than the fish.

My favorite side is a large, quartered, sweet onion. Use a toothpick to hold the petals together and soak in olive oil for a couple of hours. Toss it on the grill while cooking other stuff.

Either one would be a great side for comorant, egret, owl or whooping crane.

Now Dud.

Speaking of cranes, the Sandhill Cranes were flying over the house on their way North this past weekend.

Thanks for the recipe tips. The oven is pre-heating now.

Funny you mention the cranes migrating north. Last night I watched a giant flock of Whistling Swans migrating north in the moonlight. Very cool sight! Spring may be just around the corner after all...

I haven't looked it up, but I'm wondering if brown bats migrate or overwinter? I saw a brown bat flying right before dark tonight. Temps here today just broke in to the 60's.

I believe they hibernate. Attics, hollowed trees, caves, etc...

Yep, spring is here. Pecans are the only trees not budding out yet. Some of the robins were still here yesterday but I think they'll all be gone by the weekend. This has been the coldest, wettest winter in my memory, and it will be interesting, possibly tragically so, to see how our waterways handle the snowmelt.

Yes, flooding is certainly a serious risk this year with such heavy snow pack in many areas. We're far from leaf out here in northern VA, at least another month to 6 weeks.

CJ:

I had the fish tonight for dinner. It was great. It took 40 minutes @ 350*F to get it completely cooked.

Thanks!

No problem... Glad it worked out for you. I am not much of a cook, but even my lousy cooking skills can't screw that recipe up! Did you cook the trout whole or fillet it? Did you try the black pepper or dill?

Another favorite of mine is the Scandanavian Fish Rub It's spectacular for grilling, but I also use it in place of the salt and pepper in my other recipe. The link shows the price for a case of the spices, so don't freak at the $60 price! You can usually find them for between $6-$8 for one jar. The jar will last you a through a lot of fish or fillets. It's a bit on the sweet side, but I have a sweet tooth. The same company makes several other fish rubs and they are all very good depending on your likes.

I cooked the trout whole, used a fish spice mix that I have sitting on the spice rack, put a couple of slices of orange in the body cavity, and drizzled lemon juice on top of the fish along with olive oil and black pepper.

Sounds good, you can tinker with the basic recipe and not mess it up. That is what's great about it. My favorite fish to use the recipe on is Spanish mackerel.