Fillets de limande citronelle – Lime lemon sole fillets

As the sun is slowly making a come back, here is a zingy, refreshing dish.

You will need a melon-baller for the cucumbers but you could just as well cut them in thick batons.

Ingredients for 2 :

– 2 lemon soles

– 1/2 litre of good quality fish-stock

– 50g butter

– 50ml white wine vinegar

– 3 limes

– 10g caster sugar

– Salt & pepper

– Clarified butter or groundnut oil + butter for sautéing the vegetables

– 160g mushrooms

– 1 large cucumber

Method :

Pre-heat the oven to 60c

1. Start with the mise en place for the cucumber : run a large melon baller through the skin of the cucumber to lift rounded disks. Trim the seeds away

2. Peel the limes with a sharp knife, making sure you remove the white pith. Lift the segments as you would do for oranges (Pelée à vif)

You can find a good video from MyKitchenTable here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh9IKxHHzZw

3. If your fishmonger hasn’t done so; fillet and skin the sole. Roll the fillets around some lime segments and secure with a toothpick

4. Press the thickest part with the blade of a knife to flatten and obtain even thickness. Season well with salt and pepper

5. In a small saucepan, melt the sugar with the vinegar and raise the heat to obtain a light caramel. Add the fish stock, bring to the boil and reserve on the side to cool down. Add the remaining segments of lime

6. Butter a shallow pan and add the sole fillets

7. Cover with the stock and simmer for 10 mins or until barely cooked

8. Lift the fillets out of the pan and reserve on a plate in the barely warm oven

9. Strain the sauce and bring the sauce back to the boil on the highest heat and leave to reduce to 6tsp (90ml)

10. Meanwhile, in a frying pan; sauté the cucumbers on medium heat in the clarified butter or normal butter with a little oil to avoid browning and burning

11. Slice the mushrooms in thick-ish slices and when the cucumbers are cooked; reserve the cucumbers on the side whilst you sauté the mushrooms in pan

12. When the sauce has reduced, add the cold butter (50g) cube by cube whilst whisking to thicken the sauce

13. Check the seasoning of the sauce and serve immediately

Gigot de mer roti sur un lit d’epinards, garniture Bourguignone – Roast monkfish on a bed of spinach with Bourgignon garnish

Make the most of the end of the baby or silverskin onions whilst taking advantage of the beginning of the spinach season.

The combination of monkfish and red wine may sound strange to some of you, trust me, it works wonder !

You can substitute the roast monkfish for roast cod. This would work equally well with veal fillet or a steak.

Serve with new potatoes boiled in their skin, or even better if you can get your hands on some : Ratte du Touquet or Anya potatoes.

Ingredients for 2 servings :

400g monkfish tail, trimmed of its black skin but the central bone left in

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 lemon

175ml red wine

75ml beef stock

75ml chicken stock

a few sprigs of thyme

1 or 2 cloves of garlic

6 to 8 baby or silverskin onions

10g butter

150g baby button mushrooms

80g smoked streaky bacon

1 tbsp groundnut, grapeseed or rapeseed oil

1 bunch of spinach

S&P

Method :

Start by preparing the sauce, this can be done up to 24 hrs in advance

Pour the wine in a small saucepan with the thyme sprigs and the peeled and crushed garlic

Bring the wine to the boil and leave to simmer or boil until reduced by about 1/2

Add the chicken and beef stock to the wine reduction, bring to boil and leave to simmer or boil until reduced again to about 1/2

Adjust the seasoning of the sauce with salt, pepper and a little sugar if necessary. Strain through a fine mesh strainer lined with a double layer of muslin cloth. (There will be a lot of residue from the wine that wouldn’t look good in the sauce)

If you are making the sauce on the same day, whilst your sauce is reducing, start to prepare the garnish:

Boil some water and pour in a bowl, add the onions, skin on to the water for about 30 seconds. This will make them much easier to peel

Remove the skin of the onion and cut the stringy bits at the bottom off whilst taking care to leave the base of the onions whole

Place the onions in a small saucepan and cover with boiling water. Salt and leave to blanch (simmer) until just soft

Trim the feet off the mushrooms and clean with a paper-towel or briefly in cold water

Heat the oil (groundnut, grapeseed or rapeseed) in a frying pan on high heat

Add the mushrooms to the pan to brown on all sides, remove from the heat and reserve. Keep the oil, if any in the pan.

Chop the bacon in very thin lardons (2-3 mm matchsticks)

Melt gently on low heat in the frying pan to extract the lard

Raise the heat to high and leave the lardons to crisp up

Remove the lardons, straining the fat out as soon as they are ready

If using big spinach, fold in half, central nerve towards the outside. Pull on the central nerve to remove and take the strings out.

Wash the spinach well in a few change of cold water, making sure there is no earth / sand left hiding in the leaves

Bring a large pan of water to the boil, with a good tbsp of salt

Blanch the spinach in the boiling water for 3 to 4 mins

Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking process

Leave to drain well, press a little on the spinach if necessary to extract the excess moisture

If you are using baby leave spinach, you will simply wash them in cold water and wilt in a pan with a little oil just before serving. If you are using the large spinach, re-heat just before serving in a pan with a little butter, season with salt and pepper

For the fish, pre-heat the oven to 200c

Season the fish on all sides with salt and pepper and place in an oven-proof dish

Drizzle with a little lemon juice and the olive oil

Place to cook in the oven (10 to 15 mins)

Meanwhile, mix the onions, mushrooms and bacon in a saucepan with the wine sauce (reduction), add a few thyme leaves. Bring to the boil and leave to simmer or boil until the sauce is reduced and coating the garnish. Melt a little butter in the garnish before serving

To serve, place the spinach in a flat line in the centre of the plate

Place the fish on top (central bone removed). Drizzle the cooking juice from the fish over the fish

Place the bourguignon garnish around the fish or by its side, this will double up as your sauce

Serve immediately with the boiled potatoes

Boeuf Bourguignon – Beef Bourguignon

An eternal French classic that makes a great winter stew.

Baby onions are now readily available in British supermarkets throughout the winter; if you cannot find the baby onions, feel free to use shallots; bearing in mind the taste of the final dish will be very different.

I have had the very best and very worst of Beef Bourguignon. One mistake I have often came across is that the cook didn’t sear the meat before cooking it. Giving the meat a brown crust will ensure better texture as well as a better taste. However; make sure the oil is smoking hot when you add the meat to the frying pan. The aim is to brown the meat on all side and give it that nice tasty crust, not to cook it !

This is one of the reasons for which you would like bigger pieces of meat. Most butchers and supermarkets will sell ready-cut, smaller pieces of casserole steak. This allows for a shorter cooking time. Unfortunately, with casserole dishes, there are no cutting corners ! Take smaller pieces and your meat will end up dry and tough. The bigger pieces will help you keep a moist and tender meat.

Ingredients for 2 servings :

– 350g chuck steak, cut in 50 to 70g cubes

– 1 tbsp sunflower oil

– 6 small baby onions or English (round) shallots

– 15g butter

– 1 clove of garlic, crushed

– 1 tsp plain flour

– 150ml red wine

– 150ml beef stock

– 1 bay leave

– 1 sprig of thyme

– 3 parsley stalks

– 25g lardons or pancetta cubes

– 55g baby chestnut mushrooms

– 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

Method :

1. Pre-heat the oven to 150c

2. Make sure there are no fat or gristle left on the meat and season with salt and pepper

3. Heat the oil to very high temperature in a frying pan. Sear the meat on all side (let it brown but make sure you do not cook it !) if the bottom of the pan gets too dark, add a few drops of water. Burnt residues would make the sauce taste very bitter

4. When you have finished searing the meat, add a little water to the pan and scrape all the brown bits off the bottom. Reserve with the meat

5. Plunge the onions in hot water for about 30 seconds and peel

6. Heat the butter over medium heat in a frying pan and fry the onion to give them a nice golden brown colour on the outside

7. Add the garlic and flour, cook the flour through, stirring constantly

8. Add the wine and stock to the pan, little by little whilst stirring with a wooden spoon and scraping the bottom of the pan to make sure nothing is stuck and burning. Season with a little salt

9. Transfer the meat, onions and sauce to a casserole dish. Add the herbs and cover, preferably with a lid AND a cartouche

10. Cook in the oven at 150c for 2 to 3 hours or until the meat is tender (!! some of the steps below will have to be done and added to the sauce before the cooking time is over.

11. Whilst the meat is cooking, prepare the mushrooms and lardons

12. Blanch the lardons in boiling water for 30 secs to 1 min, this will remove some of the excess salt, as well as impurities

13. Wipe the mushrooms and cut in 1/2 or 1/4 if they are too big, reserve for later

14. Place the lardon over low to medium heat in a frying pan. Cook until enough fat has been rendered to coat the base of the pan. If necessary, add a little oil

15. Raise the heat to very high and cook the lardons, tossing frequently, until browned and crisp

16. Remove the lardons, keeping the fat in the pan and add the mushroom to the frying pan

17. Add the bacon to the stew after 1 1/2 hour of cooking

18. Add the mushroom towards the end as they will become rubbery if cooked for too long

19. When the meat is ready, place the meat and garnish in a dish on the side and transfer the sauce to a sauce-pan

20. Bring the sauce to the boil and carry on boiling to reduce to a syrupy consistency

21. Place 3 to 4 cubes of meat on each warmed serving plate and pour the sauce over

22. Sprinkle with a little parsley and serve immediately

Bouillon de legumes potagers – Garden vegetable broth

The perfect summer starter for dieters. At 70 Kcal a bowl on average, do not hesitate to eat as much of this soup as you like. 😉

Ideally the soup will be made with chicken stock. However, if you are vegetarian or entertaining some vegetarian friends, do not hesitate to substitute the chicken stock by vegetable stock.
In any case, use some good quality stock, ideally home-made.
If you are using commercial stock, try to find some in the chill/fresh produce department of your store or some sous-vide stock. In any case, do not use concentrate (cube or liquid)
Be extra careful with seasoning if using commercial stock as most of them will already be very salty.

A food processor or mandolin are ideal to chop the vegetables.
If using the traditional knife method and you are finding it difficult to julienne the carrots and celery, do not hesitate to slice them (in rounds) but still as thin as you can.
The most important is that all vegetables are cut in the same way and with the same thickness to ensure even-cooking.

1 large  carrot
1 leek
75 g mushrooms
1 stick celery
150 g tomatoes
1 1/4 l  chicken stock
1 tbsp parsley (leaves only)
1  tbsp chervil, leaves only (if you cannot find chervil, use a little more parsley and a little more tarragon)
1 tsp  tarragon, leaves only

1. Peel the carrots and wash the celery

2. Cut the carrots and celery in julienne (2mm x 2mm x 4cm). Use 50g carrots and 25g of celery for this soup

3. Wash the leeks and finely slice them lenghtways in strips of 4cm. You will need 25 of julienne

4. Finely slice the mushrooms (2mm thick) and cut into strips. You will need 50g

5. Bring the stock to the boil and check the seasoning

6. Plunge the vegetables into the stock and reduce the heat to a bare simmer. Cover with a lid but leaving space for some steam to escape

7. Simmer for 15 mins. The vegetables should be softened but retain some bite

8. Meanwhile, peel and de-seed the tomatoes

9. Chop the tomatoes into a concasse (small cubes). Use 80g of concasse in the soup

10. Place a small mound of concasse in the middle of each plates

11. Finely chop the parsley, chervil and tarragon

12. When the soup is ready, check the seasoning and place some of the julienne around the tomatoes on each plate

13. Pour the broth over

14. Sprinkle with the chopped herbs

Servings: 4

Oeuf cocotte aux champignons – Mushroom egg cocotte

 

A fab autumnal starter or brunch item

Egg cocotte never fails to impress as you hardly see them on restaurant menus and we do not often think about using this technique.

I find that a metal container works better to distribute the heat than a classic ramequin. However, the ramequin makes better presentation for sharing with friends.

It is important that the oven is at the right temperature at the second you place the dishes in the oven. Use boiling water straight from kettle to ensure the bain-marie is warm enough.

Ingredients for 4 eggs :

– 4 medium eggs

– 1 banana shallot or 2 round shallots

– 200g mushrooms

(preferably chestnut/brown mushrooms, if you cannot find these, white mushrooms will do)

– 8 sprigs chive

Method :

– Very finely chop the shallot

– Melt the butter in a pan, add the shallots and cook on very low heat until really soft

– Preheat the oven to 180c

– Meanwhile, very finely chop the mushrooms (into a duxelle). You can also roughly chop them before placing them in a food processor to turn into “crumbs”

– Add the mushrooms to the shallot and raise the heat to medium-high. Season with salt and pepper

– Cook until the mix has turned into a rough puree consistency and no moisture remains. It is important to stir regularly or the shallots will catch and burn

– Meanwhile, chop the chive very finely

– When the mushroom duxelle is ready, mix in 2/3 of the chives

– Prepare an oven-proof dish and place a piece of kitchen paper at the bottom (This will allow the ramequins to stay put when moving the dish around or when placing it in the oven or taking it out)

– Butter the dishes and place a large spoonful of mushroom duxelle at the bottom

– Place the dishes on top of the kitchen paper

– Crack one egg in each of the dishes, on top of the mushroom

– Pour boiling water around the small dishes until about 1/2 the height

– Place straight in the oven at  and bake for 8-10 mins until the white is set. Cover with tin foil half way through cooking

– Sprinkle the eggs with the chopped chive. Add a bit of salt and pepper on top and serve immediately with some crusty bread

If you have any mushroom duxelle left, place a quenelle on top of the eggs  or on the side of the plate just before serving.