Smoked Trout Fried Bread

This is a great finger food recipe, what’s better than smoked trout on toast right?...well maybe smoked trout in toast- or rather fry bread.

If you have guests coming round make the Harissa the day before, it keeps for a week or so in the fridge. If Harissa is too spicy for your taste – use some home made mayonnaise with whole grain mustard.

Ingredients:

For the Smoked Trout.

Trout

Brown Sugar

Salt

Pepper

Grappa (or similar)

For the Fry Bread

2 Cups High Grade Flour

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

¼ cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Salt

Approx 1 cup of water.

Rice bran oil for frying

For the Harissa

Moroccan spices either premixed from the supermarket or better still the following toasted and ground in a mortar and pestle:

Coriander Seeds

Cumin Seeds

Fennel Seeds

Star Anise

Cinnamon Sticks

Smoked Paprika.

3-4 Red Capsicum

3 – 4 limes (juice and zest)

¼ cup fresh mint

6-8 cloves of Garlic

4 hot red Chilies - stems removed (if you have a Bradly smoker you can smoke these first and leave the smoked paprika out of the spices)

100-200 mls of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

2 teaspoons of rock salt.

Method:

1) Starting with the Harissa which can be prepared ahead of time.

Roast the Capsicum in a hot oven (250 degrees) until the skin is blistered and blackened.

Place the Capsicum into a plastic bag, tie the top shut and let the Capsicum sweat and cool. This loosens the skin. Peel and de-seed when cooled enough to touch.

Place all of the ingredients except the Olive oil in a blender and blend smooth.

With the blender on slow drizzle in enough oil until the consistency is to your liking. It should be smooth but not too runny.

2) Catch and smoke your trout.

I use a standard cheep portable fish smoker – so I use the standard brown sugar, salt pepper and alcohol method I leant from my grandfather. But you can smoke the trout any way you like.

Flake the trout ready for use removing any bones.

3) Make the fry bread dough

In a bowl combine the dry ingredients mixing through well.

Slowly add the water stirring through until you have a doughy consistency. Need well. Let the dough sit for at least ½ an hour.

Dust a clean bench with flour and roll out the dough until you have a regular shape approximately 5-10 mm thick. (A beer or wine bottle works well for this).

Cut the dough into even sized squares.

4) Combine and Cook

Take one square of fry bread dough and top with smoked trout leaving the outsides uncovered. Add some leaves of Watercress or Basil. Cover the parcel with another square of dough and firmly join the edges together.

Fry the parcels until golden brown in oil- you usually have to eat the first couple yourself to work out how hot and how long they need to be cooked through!