KENSINGTON (WPVI) — In today’s edition of The Dish, we head to Picnic in Kensington to get the recipe for one of their hottest dishes: the smoked trout dip.

“This is one of our best sellers,” says Executive Chef Joe Mooney. “There’s no way this dish is going anywhere.”

Chef Mooney says their smoked trout dip is fun because it’s shareable. It’s picnicky, and perfect for the vibe: a huge, indoor picnic.

“When I think of a picnic, we bring things that are prepared ahead of time,” he says. “We love smoked fish and salami. We have cheeses as well. It’s casual. We are in a neighborhood that contains a lot of families and we really just want to be a very approachable restaurant.”

In the front of the restaurant, there’s a bottle shop where you can shop their wines and also pick up some of their favorite cheeses and peruse the oysters.

“We have a really great variety of oysters,” says Chef Mooney. “We also do rotisserie chicken, lots of small plates, and, of course, natural wine as well.”

Their signature organic rotisserie chicken is cooked over charcoal and comes with six dipping sauces.

But today, we came for the secrets to that smoked trout dip!

“We bring in a really nice steelhead trout,” Mooney says. “It’s very similar to salmon.”

It’s cured and smoked in house.

“We actually hot smoke this so it completely cooks the fish,” he says. “From there, it’s very simple. We just add some dairy. We start with a little bit of cream cheese and then add a little bit of creme fraiche. Creme fraiche is just a cultured cream. You can pretty much find it in most grocery stores now.”

Fold it all in and add the flaked fish. If you’re making it at home, make things super easy and simply buy any pre-smoked fish you like.

“You could use smoked trout,” he says. “Herring would work great.”

He finishes off the dip with a squeeze of lemon and a little bit of salt and serves it with pickled shallot and chopped chives.

Finally, add some sliced cucumber and saltines for garnish.

Smoked trout dip recipe from Picnic

Ingredients:

– 8 oz. package of cream cheese
– 1 cup crème fraiche
– 6 tablespoons heavy cream
– 10 ounces smoked trout or any pre-smoked fish
– 1 teaspoon salt
– Juice of 2 lemons
– Garnish options: pickled onion, chives or capers
– Sliced cucumber or saltines for dipping

Directions:

1. Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese on medium speed until soft.
2. Replace paddle attachment with whisk attachment and add crème fraiche, heavy cream, salt and lemon juice.
3. Whisk on medium speed until mixture is smooth and no lumps appear.
4. Replace whisk attachment with paddle attachment and add smoked trout.
5. Fold in trout on the lowest speed, just to bring the mixture together.
6. Taste the trout dip and adjust salt or lemon if needed.
7. Store dip in an airtight container for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight to allow the mixture to set and become firm.

Notes:

Serve dip garnished with pickled onion, chives, capers or any other topping of your liking.
Use sliced cucumber, saltines or other crackers or crusty bread for dipping.

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