Why This Recipe Works

For quick-cooking trout, this recipe uses a traditional cooking technique of dredging fish in flour to aid in browning and cooking it hot and fast in a skillet. Once the trout was cooked through, we transferred it to a serving platter and made a sauce to dress it. We browned butter in the same skillet and then toasted sliced almonds in the butter before stopping the cooking with fresh lemon juice and zest. Then we poured the butter and almond mixture over the trout and garnished it with chopped fresh parsley for a beautiful presentation.

Before You Begin

Use raw sliced almonds here—toasted ones can burn. We developed this recipe using farm-raised rainbow trout fillets. If you can't tell the color of the butter in the nonstick skillet in step 5, quickly spoon some onto a white plate to check.

Instructions

Pat trout fillets dry with paper towels. Sprinkle all over with 1 teaspoon salt and pepper.

Place flour in shallow dish. Working with 1 fillet at a time, dredge both sides in flour, pressing gently to adhere. Shake off excess and transfer to large plate.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until just smoking. Carefully place 2 fillets skin side down in skillet and cook until browned and crispy, 2 to 4 minutes. Using fish spatula, flip fillets flesh side down and cook until flesh is opaque and begins to turn golden, about 1 minute.

Transfer cooked fillets to large serving platter flesh side up. Repeat cooking and transferring with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and remaining 2 fillets.

Add butter to now-empty skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until butter is golden brown with toasted aroma, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in almonds and cook, swirling skillet occasionally, until almonds are deep golden brown, about 2 minutes.

Immediately remove skillet from heat and quickly but carefully stir in lemon zest and juice and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt, scraping up any browned bits. Pour sauce over fillets, sprinkle with parsley, and serve.