French Classics Made Easy (22 page)

2.
With your knife held at about a 30-degree angle to the work surface, slice back and forth between skin and fish while at the same time pulling the skin in the opposite direction.

F
OLDING A
F
ILLET

In France, sole fillets are cut in half, down the middle, into two long, thin fillets (each fish thus yields four fillets).

To make a sole fillet easier to remove from the poaching liquid, and to create an attractive package for presentation, it is customarily folded in half (or sometimes rolled up to form something called a
paupiette
) before being placed in the liquid. When folding a fillet, the smooth outside of the fillet (where the skin was) should be on the inside, and the inside (where the bones were) should be on the outside. If you don’t want to have to remember any of this, just try folding in both directions; the one in which the fish folds flatter is the correct one.

IN ADDITION

When working with fish, keep a bowl of water containing several tablespoons of vinegar nearby, and use this acidulated water to rinse your hands and to wipe knives and countertops to help prevent fish odors from developing.

SERVING SUGGESTION

Start with Chicken Consommé (
page 17
) or Cream of Asparagus Soup (
page 24
). Serve the fish with steamed rice and follow with a green salad. For dessert, serve Oranges in Champagne (
page 285
).

WINE

This dish goes nicely with a top-quality white Burgundy or Champagne.

DEEP-FRIED FISH FINGERS INGERS
WITH PARSLEY AND ONION RINGS

[GOUJONNETTES DE SOLE]

Agoujon is a small, 2- to 3-inch minnow like fish that is caught in the rivers of France.
Goujons
are usually deep fried and served as an hors d’oeuvre with lemon and fried parsley. These crunchy, tender fish are eaten head and all, for their bones are hardly noticeable. Some restaurants in towns bordering rivers will serve them while you sip an aperitif and contemplate the menu.

Goujonnettes de sole,
or
filets de sole en goujon,
is fillet of sole that is cut to resemble
goujons
and then served in the same way. If you’ve never tasted fried parsley, you will be pleasantly surprised.

SERVES 6

1½ pounds sole fillets

2 cups milk

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

3 onions, cut into rings

About 1 cup all-purpose flour, for dredging

2 to 2½ quarts vegetable oil, for deep-frying

1 bunch curly parsley, stems removed

3 lemons, cut in half

Remoulade Sauce (
page 335
)

1.
Preheat the oven to 250°F.

2.
Cut the fillets in half lengthwise (follow the “seam” down the middle of the fillet). Cut the fillet halves on the diagonal to form strips about 2½ to 3 inches long and ½ inch wide.

3.
Place 1 cup of the milk in a bowl large enough to hold the
goujons
and add the salt and pepper. Soak the fish in the seasoned milk for 10 minutes.

4.
In a deep-fryer, heat the oil to very hot (just smoking).

5.
Place the onion rings in a bowl with the remaining 1 cup milk to moisten. Drain and toss in the flour to coat. Fry the onion rings in the hot oil until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels and keep warm in the oven.

6.
Drain the fish and toss in the flour to coat each piece just before frying.

7.
Let the oil get very hot again and fry the fish, in 3 batches, until golden brown and crunchy, 2 to 3 minutes per batch. Drain on paper towels, and keep warm.

8.
Fry the parsley for about 5 seconds. Drain on paper towels.

9.
Serve the fish with the parsley, fried onion rings, lemon halves, and remoulade sauce.

WINE

Serve the fish with a dry white wine, such as Muscadet or Pouilly-Fuissé.

AMERICAN BOUILLABAISSE

[BOUILLABAISSE AMÉRICAINE]

For anyone who has spent any time on the French Riviera, the name
bouillabaisse
can bring back fond memories. In essence, a bouillabaisse is simply a “fish boil” with lots of good flavors. The local fish traditionally used were small; they were the ones left behind in the fisherman’s nets. But instead of being thrown back, the fish were thrown into a pot with local flavoring ingredients and boiled. The result was a platter of fish and a very flavorful broth.

The recipe that follows uses only seafood easily available in this country (which is why I called it American Bouillabaisse) and is really just an elaboration of my Mediterranean Fish Soup (
page 21
), which you can make well ahead of time (and even have stored in the freezer).

The only ingredients the least bit difficult to find are fresh fennel, saffron, and savory. For the fennel, you can substitute 1 teaspoon of aniseed or fennel seed or 1 tablespoon of an anise-flavored aperitif such as Pernod or Ricard. Unfortunately, there is no substitute for saffron if you want this to be a bouillabaisse instead of just a fish stew, although it will still be very good. If you do not have savory, omit it.

To serve the bouillabaisse, place a basket of toasted slices of French bread on the table with dishes of aioli and rouille. Each diner spreads one of the two flavorful mayonnaises on the toast rounds before adding them to the bowl with the soup and fish.

SERVES 6 TO 8

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, halved and sliced

1 leek, washed and diced

½ fennel bulb, diced

2 cloves garlic, smashed

5 sprigs parsley, chopped

1 tomato, peeled (see
page 194
), seeded, and diced

½ bay leaf

1 sprig fresh or 1 pinch of dried savory (optional)

1 sprig fresh or 1 pinch of dried thyme 1 pinch of saffron

½ teaspoon salt

⅛ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 pounds live lobster (see “Cooking with Live Lobsters,”
page 100
), cut into serving pieces

2 pounds mussels (optional), scrubbed and debearded (see
page 50
)

2 pounds fish fillets (see Note), cut into chunks

Mediterranean Fish Soup (
page 21
), prepared through step 5; omit the fish fillet

2 pounds medium shrimp, shelled and deveined (see
page 101
)

1 pound sea scallops, tendon removed (see
page 30
)

1 baguette, sliced and toasted

½ recipe Aioli (
page 332
)

½ recipe Rouille (
page 333
)

C
OOKING WITH
L
IVE
L
OBSTERS

Lobster is best kept alive until just before you are ready to cook it. A lobster that has been killed ahead of time can spoil and/or the meat will be tough. For most, the idea of killing anything is unpleasant. I try to cause the lobster the least amount of trauma. Because the lobster is a cold-blooded animal, its body temperature (as I learned in my ninth-grade biology class), adjusts to that of its surroundings. Having observed that a lobster is less active when cold than when warm, I find that if I place a lobster in the freezer 30 to 60 minutes before I am ready to cook it, the lobster becomes very relaxed and sleepy. In this state, the lobster doesn’t react to the boiling water, steam, or knife blade as much as when at room temperature. I don’t know if this is more humane, but it makes me feel better.

If I am cutting the lobster up before cooking (as with American Bouillabaisse), once the lobster is well chilled I kill it by putting the point of my chef’s knife through the shell about an inch behind the eyes and bringing the knife down firmly between the eyes. If I am boiling the lobster whole, I tuck the tail under the body and holding the tail and body in one hand, I plunge the head into the boiling water before releasing the lobster into the pot. (If you don’t tuck the tail underneath, the lobster will flap its tail and the splashing boiling water can cause burns.) If I am steaming lobster, I place them live into the steam (some people have trouble with the method, since the lobsters do move around a bit once the steam wakes them up and before it cooks them).

1.
In a large stockpot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, leek, and fennel and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, parsley, tomato, bay leaf, savory (if using), thyme, saffron, salt, and pepper and cook for 1 minute.

2.
Place the lobster, mussels (if using), and fish fillets in the pot and cover with the cold Mediterranean fish soup. Bring to a boil over medium heat, about 20 minutes, and boil gently for 1 minute.

3.
Add the shrimp and scallops. When the soup returns to a boil, the shellfish and fish should all be done. If not, simmer an additional minute.

4.
Remove the fish and shellfish and place on a large serving platter. (Discard any mussels that did not open during cooking.)

5.
Bring the soup back to a boil, taste, and adjust the seasonings, if necessary. Strain, if desired, into a large soup tureen and bring to the table.

6.
Divide the fish and seafood among large individual soup bowls and ladle the hot soup over it. Serve with the toasted baguette and bowls of the aioli and rouille on the side.

NOTE:
Use any fish that appeals to you, the freshest possible and preferably thick over thin pieces. Try for 1 pound each of two types. And avoid strongly flavored fish such as mackerel and bluefish unless they are extremely fresh.

SERVING SUGGESTION

Serve this hearty soup with a green salad and a fruit tart for dessert and you will have a wonderful meal.

WINE

Accompany the meal with a chilled rosé from Provence and the flavors will make you feel as though you were on the Côte d’Azur.

S
HELLING AND
D
EVEINING
S
HRIMP

There are two schools of thought on the subject of shelling and deveining shrimp. Those who believe it is either unhealthy or undesirable to eat the intestinal tract of the shrimp remove the shell and “vein” before cooking. Those who feel it is important to cook shrimp in their shells, for the added flavor, eat the cooked shrimp, intestine and all.

I like the increased flavor offered by the shells, and do not object to the occasional grittiness of the vein. However, since I find that the ease of eating unshelled shrimp generally outweighs the added flavor, I usually remove the shell and veins before cooking.

The system I use for shelling and deveining shrimp was taught to me many years ago by the wife of a fisherman in East Hampton, Long Island.

Be sure to save the shrimp shells, though. They can be used to make a flavorful liquid for a sauce, or to make a rice pilaf. Once the shells are removed, rinse them well and place them in a saucepan. Cover them with cold water, bring to a boil, and simmer them for 15 minutes to extract their flavor. The liquid can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for several days and in the freezer for several months.