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Home » Fish » Salmon and Trout » Trout with Orange-Saffron Sauce

Trout with Orange-Saffron Sauce

By Hank Shaw on May 27, 2013, Updated March 11, 2021 - 12 Comments

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5 from 6 votes
trout with saffron sauce
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trout with saffron sauce
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

If you’ve ever seen the movie “Ratatouille,” you may recall that Remy the Rat could see flavors in color. I do this with seasons.

Winter is burnt umber and ivory, the colors of deep sauces and stored roots. Summer, on the other hand, is a carnival riot: Reds and oranges and purples and vibrance all around. It’s a crazy-quilt of color. Spring is easier. Spring is all about spring green — that vivid, bright emerald that always has a yellow cast to it.

This is the green of new growth. Yellow, the canary of mustard flowers and the school-bus yellow of dandelion flowers, compliment that green.

So each year I try to design a dish that celebrates those colors. Some are baroque, others loaded with esoteric ingredients. This recipe is neither. It’s a simple piece of fish, with simply cooked greens, served with a saffron sauce to easy to make you will wonder you have not made it before.

Why orange and saffron? It’s a combination that works.

Trout has some fat in it, so you will want a bit of acid to balance it. Thus the white wine and orange juice. Orange adds some sweet, butter smooths it all out, and the saffron, which has a complex, dried hay-like aroma and an ever-so-slightly bitter flavor, makes everything intriguing.

No great story here, although the catching of the trout on Pyramid Lake was pretty cool, and the greens are an unusual variety of amaranth I grow in my garden (spinach would be a good alternative).  This is just a great, simple dish you can actually whip up on a weeknight. Really. It only looks fancy.

If you want something a little less bracing and creamier, but is still a pretty saffron sauce, try my saffron aioli.

trout orange-saffron sauce recipe
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5 from 6 votes

Trout with Orange-Saffron Sauce and Spring Greens

This dish is pretty simple, although it looks fancy-dancy. It's simply seared fish, a very simple sauce, and greens cooked in butter. Once you make this recipe a second or third time, it will come together in less than 30 minutes and will impress your friends.
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Total Time30 mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 510kcal
Author: Hank Shaw

Ingredients

SAUCE

  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 1/2 cup orange juice
  • A healthy pinch of saffron, crumbled
  • A healthy pinch of sugar
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • Salt
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

GREENS and FISH

  • 1 1/2 pounds tender greens, such as spinach or amaranth or lamb's quarters
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter or vegetable oil, divided
  • A splash of water, maybe 3 tablespoons
  • Grated zest of an orange
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 1/2 pounds trout or salmon fillets
  • Sprigs of pea or vetch flowers, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

  • Make the sauce by bringing the white wine, orange juice, saffron, sugar and shallot to a boil in a small pot. Simmer strongly for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and puree the sauce in a blender. Return it to the pot and turn the heat to low. Add salt to taste and keep warm, but don't boil it.
  • Cook in the greens in 2 tablespoons of butter or oil over high heat in a large saute pan, stirring constantly until they wilt. Add the splash of water, the orange zest and some salt and cover the pot. Lower the heat to medium-low and steam the greens for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat.
  • Sear the fish by heating the remaining butter in a pan large enough to hold the fish -- if you don't have such a pan, put a baking sheet in the oven and set the oven to 200°F so you can keep the fish warm as you do this in batches. Heat the butter over high heat until it stops frothing. Pat the fish dry with paper towels and set it skin-side down in the hot butter. Turn the heat down to medium-high for a typical trout fillet (like you see in the picture) or to medium if you are working with a thicker piece of fish.
  • Let the fish cook undisturbed for 2 minutes, then use a large spoon to baste the meat side of the fish with the hot butter. Do this constantly for 90 seconds, then give it a rest. Thin pieces of trout will only need this quick basting to cook through, but thicker pieces of fish will need a second or even third round of basting. When you are done basting, salt the meat side. The skin side should lift off the pan easily after about 4 to 5 minutes of steady cooking. The moment you take the fish off the heat, salt the skin side.
  • To serve, swirl in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter into the sauce, one tablespoon at a time. Pour some sauce on everyone's plate. Top with the greens and then with a piece of fish. Serve at once.

Notes

A word on the fish. I like this with trout, which is mild and a little fatty. But you could use salmon, or any fish where you would eat the skin. Hate fish skin? Shame on you, it's crispy-yummy! But no matter. You can do this with skinless pieces of fish, too.

Nutrition

Calories: 510kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 41g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 151mg | Sodium: 228mg | Potassium: 1667mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 16721IU | Vitamin C: 65mg | Calcium: 252mg | Iron: 7mg
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Filed Under: Featured, Fish, Recipe, Salmon and Trout

Avatar for Hank Shaw

Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet's largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

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Comments

  1. Avatar for Misty CiptakMisty Ciptak says

    October 3, 2018 at 3:01 pm

    I used this recipe with our recently caught Lake Trout from Lake Michigan and it was delicious! Our fish was pretty thick therefore it took a lot longer to cook.

    Reply
  2. Avatar for Emily GardnerEmily Gardner says

    September 11, 2018 at 10:02 am

    Could the sauce be made one day ahead?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      September 11, 2018 at 10:16 am

      Emily: Yes, it can.

      Reply
  3. Avatar for KatieKatie says

    July 21, 2017 at 6:09 pm

    Hank, this was so delicious! I’ve been following your site for quite some time now. Didn’t have any edible flowers, so I used dragon fruit as a garnish. Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe!

    Reply
  4. Avatar for NicoNico says

    March 12, 2014 at 11:08 am

    I had some Passmore Ranch rainbow trout and made this yesterday for my wife and for me – I think this was one of the absolute best dishes to showcase the trout with contrasting and complementing flavors. Hank, you have quite the site here, and this is a great _go-to_ recipe for me. After searing the fish, I simply removed it from the pan, drained excess fat, added some butter and then the spinach, which cooked in about a minute. With the sauce ready to go, this could be a 15-minute weeknight meal.

    Reply
  5. Avatar for AndyAndy says

    June 5, 2013 at 10:10 am

    Would you recommend this with Lake Trout?

    Reply
  6. Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

    June 3, 2013 at 11:37 am

    Anthony: Oooh… good idea. Will message you.

    Reply
  7. Avatar for ChzplzChzplz says

    May 31, 2013 at 10:04 am

    Great recipe – very tasty and easy.

    Reply
  8. Avatar for PeggyPeggy says

    May 29, 2013 at 12:15 pm

    I love sea trout and this looks like one heck of a dish!

    Reply
  9. Avatar for AnthonyAnthony says

    May 27, 2013 at 9:16 pm

    So do you grow your own saffron or buy it? If you’re not growing it, you should be: It’s ridiculously easy to grow in this area (Citrus Heights/Orangevale), and produces geometrically greater amounts each year. Drop me a reply if you’re interested.

    Anthony

    Reply
  10. Avatar for DorotheaDorothea says

    May 27, 2013 at 12:43 pm

    Yum, this sounds simple and delicious! Can’t wait to try it (assuming you intended recipe to read 1/2 cup wine?).

    Reply
  11. Avatar for Irina @ wandercrushIrina @ wandercrush says

    May 27, 2013 at 11:19 am

    I just cooked with wild trout recently and was surprised at how much it tasted like salmon! I’ll have to try it with orange/saffron flavours next time. (And huzzah for crispy fish skin!)

    Reply

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Hi, my name is Hank Shaw. I am a James Beard Award-winning author and chef and I focus my energies on wild foods: Foraging, fishing, hunting. I write cookbooks as well as this website, have a website dedicated to the intersection of food and nature, and do a podcast, too. If it’s wild game, fish, or edible wild plants and mushrooms, you’ll find it here. Hope you enjoy the site!

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