Sometimes, you need a ray of sunshine to break through the clouds. Not everyone gets that from a recipe, but I do, and I imagine that other like me exist. Lemons are sunshine to me – the sunny, happy color; the bright, exuberant flavor; the unapologetic enthusiasm of its sweet-tart starburst juice. I love lemons.
I tried a technique here that I have wanted to try for a long time – using the whole lemon. The juice, the pulp, the zest, the pith – the whole shebang. My Moroccan grandmother Meme always uses the whole lemon, but those are preserved – also wonderful, but their own salty, sour thing. I was excited to try it with a fresh zinger of a lemon this time.
I found a great technique online where you use the whole lemon, but slice off the ends to expose the flesh. That way, you are removing some of that bitter pith, and the amount of bitterness left on the lemon is just right. I’ve done this a number of times, and it works every time. Just blitz the remaining lemon (make sure you wash it; organic preferred!) with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a few leaves of thyme. It is glorious. I spoon it over sliced avocado. I dip little gem lettuce leaves in it. I mix it into fluffy warm rice. I’m going to try it on steak and on roasted potatoes. Ceiling unlimited.
For this recipe, I roast whole butterflied trout in the lemon sauce. The whole recipe is four ingredients, a quick blitz in the blender, and then 15 minutes in the oven. And then you have this healthy, punchy, elegant dinner. It’s ridiculous bang for the buck. I hope this recipe brings you sunshine this summer.
Whole-Lemon Zinger Sauce with Thyme and Roasted Trout
serves 2
INGREDIENTS
1 organic lemon (or an unwaxed one washed very well)
½ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, and a small bunch of fresh thyme on the stem
2 butterflied trout, about 1½ pounds total
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.
To make the sauce, get out your blender. Cut the two ends off the lemon all the way down to expose the flesh and discard the ends. Then, cut the lemon into eight pieces and drop them in the blender with the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Whiz on high until the sauce is very smooth. Add 1 teaspoon of thyme leaves and whiz just to combine.
Find an oven-safe baking dish that nicely nestles your two fish just so. Drizzle it with a little bit of olive oil. Then spoon in one quarter of the lemon sauce all over the bottom of the dish.
Season the trout inside and out with salt and pepper. Place them in the baking dish skin-side-down, and move them around so the skin side gets coated with the lemon sauce. Then, spoon another quarter of the lemon sauce over the flesh, and smush it around to coat. Scatter the whole thyme stems over the top of the fish – I like to toss them lightly with a smidge of olive oil so that they crisp and don’t burn. I leave the fish to marinate while the oven gets hot.
That’s it! Tuck them into their warm oven bed for 15 minutes, and when they are opaque and flaky, they are done. I serve the remaining lemon sauce alongside (it’s also great on avocado in the morning!).