Cold, wet, and slimy,
there is nothing poetic
about a dead fish.
Unless you count the haiku I just wrote.
Nine (plus one bonus) recipes. It was a lot of potatoes, a lot of frying, and a lot of butter.
This was my Pommes Darphine aka"hashbrown" aka my second breakfast. We served it with some creme fresh and the salmon gravlax we made on Monday.
My hash browns always stick to the bottom of the pan (they did a bit today, too). How to prevent this? Make sure you pat your potatoes dry really well and ensure the pan and oil are very hot before adding your potatoes. The high heat will sear the bottom right away so the potatoes won't stick to the pan. Then, make sure there is enough oil. You can use a metal spatula to unstick if necessary.
Pommes Purée. No real tricks when it comes to mashed potatoes. We just had the benefit of a food mill which makes your cooked potatoes into tiny rice sized pieces prior to smashing. No chunks here.
Pommes Anna. We made ours in tiny molds (appx. 3 inches), which were rather cute. We cut sections of the potato into cylinders with a small biscuit cutter before using the mandoline to slice. Hence the frilly edges. Then we layered them with plenty of clarified butter, and popped it in the oven until it was golden. Once baked, we poured off the excess clarified butter. Clarified butter, is butter with all the milk solids removed. Thus, it has a higher smoking point and can be used for frying and cooking at high temps without smoking or burning. (Although, if only cooking in the oven and not over the stove, regular butter can be used).
To make clarified butter, simply melt your butter slowly over a pilot light or very low flame. The milk solids will sink to the bottom, so just ladle clear butter off the top to use. Alternatively, pour melted butter into a container, stick a ladle in it, then refrigerate overnight. The next day lift out your ladle, and it should pull out the block of clarified butter with it. Voila.
I ate my Pommes Anna for lunch, along with our duck confit that we started making on Monday. I've never had duck confit, and wasn't sure how I'd feel about leg meat that had been cooked in it's own fat. It was pretty tasty, not something I'll order with regularity, but still good. Duck fat isn't as unhealthy as you'd think, there is actually less saturated fat in it than in butter.
Pommes Pont-Nuef. Before:
And After:
French fries are delicious. 'Nough said. These were fried twice. The first time to cook through-no coloring-at around 300-25º. Then again at 350-75º to finish them off.
FYI: If your fried potatoes don't turn out, your problem might be that...
- the potatoes were wet when added to the oil
- the oil wasn't hot enough and the potatoes absorbed too much oil before cooking
- the oil was too hot, and the outside cooked faster than the inside
- the oil was old or of poor quality
- the potato was not properly washed
Pommes Croquettes. You take pommes duchesse (pureed potato with butter and an egg yolk, no cream) and pipe them into logs, freeze, then cut into sections. Then you paner à l'anglaise (do as the English do), which in this case means dredge in flour, dip in egg wash, and roll in breadcrumbs before frying. We fried these babies at 350º F.
Pommes Gaufrette, Pont-Neuf, and Croquette. To make the Gaufrette, you use a little basket to hold the waffle cut potatoes in place while you fry them.
The hard part is removing the gaufrette. You lift the small basket out of the larger one, and your gaufrette will most likely be stuck to the small basket. So, you have to try and grasp the bottom and twist it off without breaking it. We finally succeeded on our third attempt. (Yes, we cracked two baskets, so I had to risk my fingers, 2X, slicing more potatoes on the mandoline. I feel guillotine is a more appropriate name than mandoline.) What did we learn? First, make sure you remove it right away. Also, don't make your slices too thin or else they are more fragile and more likely to break. Finally, be sure to dip the baskets in oil before adding the potatoes so they won't stick to the basket as much.
That's all the potato pictures I have, so onto fish...
Filleting fish. Not easy. I didn't do too terrible considering this was the first time I've ever touched a whole raw fish. Fortunately Henry, yes I named him, was already gutted. I figured since I was talking to my fish, he ought to have a name. Mostly I was apologizing for cutting off his dorsal fin, and then nagging him to cooperate.
Henry was turned into poisson en papillote aka fish baked in parchment paper. What we did was layer tomato fondue and a mushroom duxelles under the fish; then put cooked julienned carrots, celery, and leeks on top; and to finish, we folded it nicely in a paper pouch and cooked it in the oven for 7-8 minutes at 450ºF.
Set to marinate
Ready to go in the oven
You serve the fish in the papillotes to be opened at the the table. This allows the diner to enjoy the presentation and aroma.
This was Martha, my trout. I didn't get an after shot, but she was pan seared with her skin on (Yay! Skinning a fish is tricky too,) and then served with a lemon and caper beurre noisette (brown butter sauce). We added some croutons and parsley to garnish. It seems, practically every French dish is sprinkled with parsley. They are also fond of chervil and tarragon.
Friday we moved on to flat fish. Flat fish seemed easier than the round. We did get (*have?) to gut our flat fish. With a round fish, chef just slit the belly from anus to gills; however, with the flat fish chef had us remove the head and the guts all at once. You pull off the head and the intestinal tract comes with it. Pretty slick (figuratively and literally). My fillets turned out quite nice; I didn't loose too much meat. No picture since my hands were covered in guts.
We made fish sticks (goujonettes--named after a small fish that is actually that shape) and a braised sole with white wine, shallots, and cream. The fish sticks had a rémoulade (to practice our emulsified sauces) and red pepper sauce. We fried parsley (the curly kind) and served it in a potato basket.
The braised fish was really good. I killed the sauce (in a good way). The picture isn't beautiful since I didn't take it till after chef tasted it and swished it around, but it was probably my favorite thing we've made to date. I've included the recipe so you can make it.
*Mostly, I'd just buy 4 filets from the store (any white fish), replace the fish stock with vegetable or chicken stock and then just follow the "to order" instuctions.
BRAISED FLOUNDER (we used sole) WITH WHITE WINE, SHALLOTS AND CREAM
Yield: 4 servings
INGREDIENTS:
1 whole flounder filleted into 4 pieces
FUMET
bones from the fish
40g (1.5 oz) onions, thinly sliced
40g leeks, green portion
15g butter
bouquet garni (bay leaf, thyme sprigs, parsley stems)
mushroom trimmings
GARNITURE:
30g shallots, finely diced
75g mushrooms, thinly sliced
SAUCE:
25g butter (just enough to coat pan to cook mushrooms and shallots)
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
40g white wine (*can just do all stock)
Fish Fumet
200g heavy cream
10g flat leaf parsley, chopped
2.5 g lemon juice
50g whipped cream (whip only until very soft peaks form, you only need enough for about four spoonfuls)
PROCEDURE:
FOR THE FISH-
1. Remove fins, scale the fish (optional since we're removing the skin anyway), remove the guts and the gills. Rinse fish thoroughly.
2. Remove the fillets with a filleting knife, and then remove the skin.
FOR THE FUMET-
1. Rinse the bones thoroughly in cold water to degorger (remove impurities).
2. Sweat the onions and the leek in butter for 5 minutes (just until soft with no color), and then add chopped fish bones. Sweat for 3 more minutes. Add just enough water to cover bones. Add bouquet garni and mushroom trimmings (i.e. the stems).
3. Simmer, without boiling (or else too much water will evaporate) for 20-30 minutes and then strain out bones and aromatics. Set aside liquid to use in sauce.
TO ORDER: FOR THE GARNITURE AND SAUCE-
1. Select a sautoir (shallow, round saucepan with straight sides) that corresponds to the size of the fillets, brush the bottom of the pan with butter and sprinkle in the shallots and the sliced mushrooms.(I did maybe 8 mushrooms and one shallot?? There was enough to cover the entire bottom of the pan.)
2. Season both sides of fillets with salt and pepper. Place the fish fillets on top of the mushrooms and shallots. Fillets may be left flat or folded. (Chef had us roll up our fillets like a cinnamon roll first.)
3. Add white wine and enough fish fumet to come about half way up the sides of the fillets. You can always add more later. Cover the pan with a parchment paper lid and bring the liquid to a simmer on the stove (We covered with a regular lid as well, so the liquid wouldn't evaporate too fast.) Cook at a low simmer for 2-3 minutes or until slightly underdone (may be longer). It will be cooked more in the oven.
4. Remove fish from the pan, leaving the mushrooms and liquid. Set fish aside, drain and keep warm in an oven or with foil.
5. Reduce the mushrooms and cooking liquid until it begins to thicken at about halfway down the side of the pan. (I went until most of the liquid was gone and you just had really wet looking mushrooms. The simmer was big popping bubbles...Like how when you cook just onions it gets to a point where looks like its just a perfectly even layer of onions except for it dips down where there are bubbles? Ya know what I mean?)
6. Add the cream and the chopped parsley, and reduce until the sauce naps the back of a spoon.
7. Add in a few squeezes of lemon juice and salt/pepper until it tastes good.
8. Pour sauce into a bowl and let cool slightly. Fold in one spoonful of whipped cream per serving. Adjust seasoning if necessary.
9. Place a little sauce on a small plate and test it under the salamander. check the consistency and the color of the glaçage. If necessary, add the whipped cream to thin out the sauce. (I feel this step is optional)
FOR THE FINISH-
1. Plate the fish. We added boiled potatoes (cooked to just tender) to the plate. Then pour sauce over the top so it looks lovely. Be sure to let the mushrooms fall naturally over and around the top of the fillets.
2. Slide plates under the salamander and heat until glazed. (we put in a convection oven at 450º or so and left them until nicely browned-it didn't take long)
3. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. It needs some green.
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