Our local bakery sells an impressive array of tartines.  Open-faced sandwiches made with fresh sour-dough bread and all manner of rich and elaborate toppings. Among my favourite? Chicken, tarragon, walnut and watercress. Mushroom, pesto and marinated feta. More-ish and delicious. Available from early morning to late afternoon.

This week I served up Smoked Trout Tartines With Radish and Radicchio for a quick and elegant brunch. The luscious filling an adaptation of an easy smoked trout dip recipe that has been in my repertoire for years. To make as a dip simply pulse all the ingredients together in a food processor for a few seconds to yield a smoother consistency, Personally I prefer the rustic, chunkier style I adopted for this tartine. It has an interesting texture that’s well suited to an open faced sandwich.

And just a few more thoughts and pointers. I prefer to use whole smoked trout for no other reason that I feel the fish is juicier and more flavoursome smoked on the bone. Whole hot smoked trout are generally available from a fishmonger but pre-packaged fillets can always be sourced from the chiller section of a good supermarket or delicatessen. This recipe is equally delicious using either alternative, and to be honest when pressed for time I will opt to use fillets. Likewise crème fraîche and plain Greek yoghurt are also interchangeable in this recipe. Yoghurt is a staple ingredient in our refrigerator so more often than not it finds its way into my dip in the interests of sheer convenience.

Smoked Trout Tartine With Radish and Radicchio 

350 g whole hot smoked trout or 300 g hot smoked trout fillets
3 tablespoons crème fraîche or plain Greek yoghurt
1 lemon, finely zested and juiced
1 tablespoon dill, finely chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
1 long green spring onion, finely chopped
8 slices sour-dough baguette
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 red radishes, very thinly sliced
½ cup shredded radicchio
sea salt and freshly  ground pepper
picked dill sprigs, to garnish
freshly squeezed lemon juice, to serve

IF USING a whole trout  fillet the fish by peeling  back the skin and removing the top fillet. Lift the head up and away from the body to take the spine away from the remaining fillet. Use tweezers to  remove any finer bones.
FLAKE the trout fillets into a mixing bowl and mash lightly with a fork.
ADD the crème fraîche, parsley, dill, spring onion, lemon zest and juice. Mix well to combine and season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. If the mixture is too dry add a little more crème fraîche  or yoghurt.
LIGHTLY butter the baguette slices. Top each slice with a layer of shredded radicchio and  generous heaped tablespoon of smoked trout mixture.
GARNISH with sliced radish and picked dill sprigs. Season with a little more sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Serve with a light dousing of freshly squeezed lemon juice.