PAN-FRIED TROUT with BACON

I flung my first fishing line when I was a wee child, on the banks of the Toe river, behind my grandparents house where I was raised in Newland, NC. Back then the water was not polluted as it is now. We swam in it and fished it with a sturdy stick that had string tied to it and a large safety pin on the end of it. We dug for the wiggling worms and did a lot of giggling and wiggling ourselves. We caught mostly trout and our 'Mama Joe' was always more than happy to sling a frying pan on the old wood stove and 'fry it up' for us hungry grandchildren. Those were the 'good ol' days and exemplified in the end who we really were and who we have became.

1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup thinly sliced green spring onions
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons rinsed drained capers
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon, or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried tarragon
8 slices of a good bacon (Oscar Mayer)
4 (8 to 10-oz.) trout fillets, boned
salt & pepper to taste
flour

Heat 4 tablespoons of the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Saute 1 1/4 cups of the green onions in the butter for 3 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, capers and tarragon. Remove from the heat, cover to keep warm.

Fry the bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Remove to paper towels to drain, reserving the pan drippings. Crumble the bacon and add to the green onion mixture.

Sprinkle the fillets with salt and pepper and coat the fish with flour, shaking off the excess. Drain all but 3 tablespoons of the reserved pan drippings. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter to the pan drippings. Heat over medium heat until the butter melts. Arrange 2 of the fillets skin side up in the skillet. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes; turn. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes longer or just until opaque in the center. Remove the fillets to oven-proof serving plates. Keep warm in the oven. Repeat with the remaining trout, adding 1 tablespoon butter to the skillet if needed. Reheat the green onion mixture if needed and spoon over the top of each serving. Sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon of the remaining green onions.

Serves 4

"All the romance of trout fishing exists in the mind of the angler and is in no way shared by the fish."~Harold F. Blaisdell, The Philosophical Fisherman, 1969