Ralf's smoked trout with red horseradish in croustado

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 carrots, thick
• 1 tsp, heaped horseradish, grated or from the jar
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 2 trout fillets, mildly smoked
• 100 ml cream
• 8 slice(s) toast bread, (wholemeal)
• 1 tbsp parsley, chopped for garnish
• Butter, for spreading
• salt and pepper
• nutmeg

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 30 minutes

looks harder than it is

Trim the ends of the carrots, wash, scrape, and dice. Cook in vegetable stock until soft. Depending on the size of the cubes, between 8 and 15 minutes. Meanwhile, trim the edges of the whole-wheat sandwiches. Flatten the slices with a rolling pin and cut out circles. (If you don’t have a sufficiently large round cutter, I use the lid of a coffee maker. It works perfectly.) Spread the bread circles thinly with butter and cut in half from the center outwards with a knife. Lay the bread on top of each other along the cut edge and press firmly together to form a basket. It will look like an umbrella. Place point-down on a rack and toast in a preheated oven at 200°C for about 12 minutes. Toast for a little longer or less depending on the desired degree of browning. Remove the soft-cooked carrot cubes from the heat and puree with a hand blender. Add the horseradish and cream and mix well. Season with pepper, salt, and nutmeg. Remove the finished croustados from the oven and let them cool slightly. Quarter the trout fillets. Place a piece of fish in each croustado, add a generous teaspoon of the horseradish cream (it looks even better with a syringe), and garnish with chopped parsley. Delicious hot or cold!