Val’s Baked Trout

Ingredients

3-5 pound lake trout or salmon, boned whole by the fishmonger, bone reserved.

4 ounces of butter

2 ribs of celery, stringed, sliced

3 big fat carrots, peeled, sliced and blanched

2 large onions, chopped fine

1 tbl fresh thyme leaves

32-ounce can whole plum tomatoes

2 cups dry white wine

1 pt sour cream

½ cup parsley, minced

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°

Prepare the vegetables. Dot the fish in and out with butter. Lay it on a bed of the onion, carrot, celery and thyme in a large deep roasting pan. Cover with canned tomatoes and their juice and white wine. Put the bone in the pan along side the whole fish and bake covered until just done (start checking at 40 minutes for a five pound fish). Carefully move the whole fish to a large platter and peel the skin off the presentation side. Cover to keep warm while finishing the sauce. Remove the bone from the roasting pan and discard. Simmer the juices and vegetables to concentrate the flavors. When the vegetables are soft, purée the mixture. Whisk in the sour cream, to taste, and add the fresh parsley. Serve the fish in generous slices, with the sauce passed separately.