• Prep time: 15 minutes – assuming the fish has been cleaned by the fishmonger
• Bake time: 30 minutes
• Serving: 2-4
• Notes: Pictorial recipe is written in first person narrative for Chef Ethan. I wanted to steam the fish at first but the fish won’t fit into my steamer so I baked it instead. I used trout for this pictorial recipe but red snapper, red fish, striped bass, or tilapia is fine too.

Hope you enjoy this simple and quick baked trout recipe demonstrated by my three-years-old Chef Ethan. Since it’s Lent season, my friend requested me to add more recipes for this category. So here we go! I bought the fresh trout from Lotte Plaza Market in Orlando, Florida.

Ingredients:

• 1 trout about 2.5 pound
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 lemongrass stalks
• 2 shallots
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 2-inch piece ginger
• fistful of scallion*
• 3 Tbsp Lee Kum Kee Soy Sauce for Seafood
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp lemongrass powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Note: Chef Ethan’s fistful of scallion is not as big as the grownup’s fistful.

Direction:

1. Mama put the vegetable oil in one little bowl with a brush for me. In the other bowl, she mixed the LKK Soy Sauce for Seafood with the garlic powder, onion powder, lemongrass powder, and black pepper together.

2. I helped mama harvest the scallions. She helped me harvest, cut, and bruise the lemongrass stalks. Mama also helped me peel and slice the shallots and ginger. Mama said when I am a little older, I can use the real chef knife. But for now, I’m good with my little scissors and cheap plastic knife.

3. Mama lay a piece of parchment paper on the baking sheet. She helped set up everything on the floor because she didn’t want any raw fish on the table. I helped made a bed for the fish to sleep on using half of the fresh ingredients like this. I had to tell mama to move the fish off the tray for me to make the bed. Sometimes mama is a bit clumsy and I have to give her suggestions to make the flow of our pictorials better.

4. After making the bed for the fish to sleep on, I get to use the brush to “paint” one side of the fish with the marinade paste. Then mama lay the side I brushed the paste on down onto the fish bed.

5. Mom told me to lift the fish belly flap up so I can brush some marinade paste inside the fish belly. Then I stuffed the fish belly with the remaining fresh ingredients. That was fun.

6. Then I “paint” the top side of the fish with the rest of the marinade paste. I did my best.

7. Then for the final touch, I brushed a layer of vegetable oil on top of the fish skin. Then mama decorated the top of the fish with some slices of yellow onion. She said this way the fish will be moist and not dry. I do not like eating dry fish.

8. Mama preheated the oven to 375F. During this time, I cleaned up and play a little while the fish lay on the tray for the paste to absorb a bit. When it’s time, mama placed the tray of fish in the middle rack and baked the fish for 30 minutes.

9. Enjoy! Eat it like it is, serve it with rice, or wrap it up like a Vietnamese baked fish roll. The texture of this baked trout is very moist and juicy. The fish smells so good baked with lemongrass, shallots, and ginger!

Behind the scene: Sis was napping and woke up and decided she wanted to take credit decorating the plate for mama’s headshot of this pictorial recipe. I had to fight my right to do so. Mama said we had to share. Fine.