Poached Sea Trout

Apparently, they're only around for about three weeks and they were on special offer at £13.50 a kilo instead of the usual £20 and although I already had a whole shoulder of lamb, a large free range chicken and a lot of sausages tucked under the buggy, I bought one (£12.10). And a pot of Moxon's home-made extra-virgin rapeseed oil mayonnaise to go with it.
Generally, I'm not keen on trout, it's a dirty, muddy-tasting fish but the sea trout is like a softer, more delicate salmon so I thought I'd cook it the same way and poach it whole. Old-fashioned I know but gorgeous served chilled with a proper spring salad of asparagus and young watercress. Any leftover fish (and we did have some) can be mashed into mayonnaise with a bit of soft cheese and spread onto hot granary toast for tea.
Serves 4
1 whole sea trout, (or salmon) cleaned
1 onion, sliced
1 carrot sliced
1 celery stalk, sliced
few parsley stalks
1 chilli
1 bay leaf (fresh or dried)
a few allspice berries
2 tsp sea salt
lemon wedges and mayonnaise, to serve
Place the fish in a roasting tin (or fish kettle if you have one). Scatter over the onion, carrot, celery, parsley stalks, chilli, bay leaf, berries and salt. Just cover with cold water, set it over two rings of your hob and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2 minutes then turn off the heat and leave to cool completely. Skin and de-bone then chill until ready to serve. A lovely weekend lunch!