It was freezing outside and I knew I wouldn’t spend a lot of time on the grill this weekend. The wind hit 50mph, and I did not want to constantly come in and out of the house, but I had a craving for a fun grilled dish. Ginny had some leftover gruyere cheese, and I had some smoked whole trout that I had frozen. You know what’s coming, right? A deliciously rich and satisfying smoked trout dip.
This recipe passed the huge test! You know if you have read the blog for long, if our teenage son stands at the end of the island and doesn’t move so he can continue eating, it is a huge hit! This is passed that test! He said it was one of the best things we’ve made. Um, you said that when we made the potato skins. Yea, those were awesome too. There you have it!
I had a blast smoking the trout when Ginny was out of town, and now it was time to cash in on the spoils.
Making the Smoked Trout Dip
This was super easy to put together.
Sauté the onions until they are a very rich, dark brown. Not burnt, but definitely on the darker side of brown. I wanted that extra caramelized flavoring in the dip. Towards the end, toss in 2 garlic cloves, minced.
In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, parmesan cheese, gruyere cheese, juice of ½ of a lemon and 8 oz of smoked trout. If you don’t have the smoked trout, you can try smoked salmon or a couple of cans of tuna or crab meat. Don’t let the lack of smoked trout deter you here! This dip is worth making!
Baking the Smoked Trout Dip
Put it in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. I initially tried 15 minutes, but when I took it out, the top of the dip had not yet turned a golden brown. So I put it back in the oven, uncovered, for another five minutes. Once you take it out, sprinkle with chopped chives or green onions.
Sure enough, after the five minutes, it was bubbling and started to turn a golden brown. Definitely, spend the extra few minutes to get that nice coloring on the top. I could hardly wait for it to cool down before I dug in.
Finding the right cheese
On a side note, we had trouble finding gruyere cheese. I kid you not when I tell you that there was a national cheese shortage. It sounds like the makings of a bad novel, right? I think everyone was buying it for the holidays and I thought of it way too late in the game. The grocery store clerk recommended we try Raclette and even pulled up a YouTube video showing this cheese. The clerk pointed out that gruyere had won the 2018 award for the best cheese in Switzerland. (Dead serious! Check out the link here) How cute! You don’t find people helping out like this in stores anymore!
Fortunately, our other neighborhood store had a little bit of Gruyere left and we snagged it. Oh, I did buy the Raclette to combine with Gruyere in a potato dish! I’ll keep you posted.
Serving the Trout Dip
Definitely serve this dip warm. It refrigerated extremely well for three days, but heat it up before you serve it. The cheeses melt so well and the taste of the smoky fish works just perfect with these cheeses.
I used plain old corn tortilla chips for the dip. I did try some toasted garlic bread chips, but they were way too salty. The tortilla chips hit the spot. Oh, if you’re trying to eat a bit healthier, please substitute carrots, celery, and radishes for the chips. This isn’t a low-calorie dish, but you can’t go wrong by replacing the chips with something a bit healthier, right? You could also use one of those long thin baguettes sliced up and spread the dip on that. You can toast the bread with olive oil or just serve plain since the dip is so full of flavor.
This could be a meal by itself! It is so darned delish!
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb smoked trout
- 3/4 cup onion finely chopped
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup mayonaise
- 1/2 cup Parmesan shredded
- 1/2 cup Gruyere shredded
- 1/2 lemon juice
- 2 tbs chives chopped
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil and sauté onions until translucent or about 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and sauté one more minute. Turn off heat and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the onion and garlic mixture with the smoked trout. Add the cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise. Add lemon juice, chives. Add salt and pepper.
- Mix and transfer to small oven safe baking dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until heated through and top begins to brown.
- Top with extra chives after it comes out of the oven.
Notes
