Do you know where the oldest fish farm in Continental Europe is? It's in Poland, near Częstochowa, on the edge of Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska in Złoty Potok. Here the crystal clear water of Elżbieta and Zygmunt sources have for decades flooded the ponds of Pstrągarnia. In the  middle of the XIX century, count Edward Raczyński decided to build a fish farm at the source of the Wiercica River.

Pstrągarnia fish farm still exists. However, you can't buy fresh fish there anymore. The local fish and chip shop serves only two dishes: fried trout and fried carp with various extras. Despite the ascetic menu, it is difficult to find a free table and the line for tasty fish with fresh salad is sometimes quite long.

In my kitchen fresh fish appears quite often, but I usually prepare fillets. I recently prepared whole fish for the first time. I filled gutted trouts with herbs and wrapped Parma ham around them. You can do the same with smoked bacon. Thanks to this covering, the fish was mellow and ideally salty.

Ingredients:

4 trouts

4 sprigs of fresh rosemary

4 sprigs of dill

4 garlic gloves

4 tablespoons of butter

8 thin slices of Parma ham

salt and pepper

lemon

olive oilClean the gutted trout and spice up the inside with salt and pepper. Fill it with rosemary, dill, garlic and butter. Wrap the Parma ham tightly around the fish. Cover a casserole dish with some baking paper and dot it with olive oil. Arrange the fish in the dish with the seam of the Parma ham facing down. Bake with the lid on at 180C for 35 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for 5 minutes to lightly brown the fish and ham. Serve with the sauce from the casserole dish and sprinkle with lemon juice.

Enjoy your meal!