Recipe for Sweet Trout
"When the family comes back I need to take Illy out to help me gather a few things. We need to hunt down the grape leaves that are unfurling their leaves. The mint is tall and fragant in the early summer days, I really only need her help with the sap buckets we set up in the early spring for the maples. The clan will be back from the spawning run soon, and we need to prepare for the first years feast! Those rivers are always full of fish this time of year, so this should be easy!"
Prep
Step one: Wash the bucket of grape leaves, making sure to get the spiders and crawlers off as well as the dirt. We don't need the family to be sick. Step two: Trim the mint in the field, taking the youngest leaves before they get that bitter taste like the much larger ones at the base of the plants. Wash these too. Step three: Render that sap down, making a syrup. It gets so much sweeter, and lasts a bit longer. The family always loves when we are able to make more than we need, so extra is better! Step four: dress those fish, the heads are only good for soup. The guts are only good for bait. Remember to remove the skin, Mother renders those down to make oil for the family. So Hob, if I find you throwing away those skins in the bushes again, I'm going to beat you.
Cooking
Take the filets and slice them through the middle, not cutting all the way through. We only need to make a pocket. Place the mint in the pocket only adding a little, this is strong. Lightly salt the filet, if we have peppercorns, place them in the pocket as well, only a few will do. Wrap the grape leaves around the filets, and fill the rest of the pocket with the syrup, making sure the grape leaves are damp so the syrup doesn't leak out.
Tightly wrap them up and place them in the hearths in the caves, until the steam screams out of the leaves. Pull them away from the fires and let them cool. The syrup thickens up as they cool, the mint suffices the meat of the trout. FInally, let the family enjoy!
The steam softens the bones, so they never end up being an issue. I love the sweet and light taste of this feast! Back lit by the maple flavors, with the subtle earthy complexity of the grape leaves, I never get tired of teaching the newest members of the family this every year.
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