Papillottes of Sea Trout with Julienne veggies, Beurre Blanc sauce
A fish "papillotte" in France is a portion of fish with cut vegetables and spices wrapped in aluminum foil and cooked in the oven. This way of cooking keep all the fish and spices flavors together and the sauce is added to the taste of each guest. The way of cutting vegetable in a long and fine stick shape is called Julienne.
Serve 6 to 8 persons
Time to prepare: 40mns
Ingredients:
6 to 8 sea trout portions
2 carrots
2 turnips
1 large red capsicum
6 to 8 branches of Fresh Thyme
salt and white ground pepper
Olive oil
For the "Beurre Blanc" sauce
1 French eshallot (type of sweet onion), 1 glass of dry white wine, 50g of butter, 3 large spoonful of sour cream, salt and pepper to taste.
1. Peel the carrots and turnips. Cut the red capsicum and take out the white flesh and seeds. Cut the carrots in long and fine sticks of 3mm wide and 5 to 6 cm long. Do the same for the turnips and the capsicums. Cook these vegetable in boiling water for 5/10 Mn (the veggies should be tenderised but not fully cooked). Strain the veggies and let them cool down.
2. Choose an oven dish or oven tray that will hold all the aluminium squares with the fish portion.Place the fish portion in the middle of the alu.square and lift up both side of the alu.square.Place them all in your oven dish / tray. Add some vegetable julienne on the top of each fish portion and finish with a small branch of fresh thyme. Add a little salt on each portion (fish is salty by definition so you do not need to add a lot of salt) and add generously some white ground pepper.Finish with a a dash of olive oil. Wrap the alu.squares lifting up the ends so the juice in the wrapping won't escape during cooking. Place in the oven and cook for 20 Mn at 180 degrees.
3. Cut the French eschalotte and put in a small pot with the glass of white wine.Cook until the wine has disappeared the add the butter and the sour cream. Cook for 5 mn until all ingredients are well mixed. Add salt and pepper and 2 spoonful of water and use an electric soup mixer to lift up this sauce so it gets airy.
You can serve the "papillotes" directly on the table or you can prepare each plate on your kitchen board, removing the aluminum wrapping directly from the plate, sliding the fish portion in its juice,topped with the veggies straight into the plate. Place the Beurre Blanc into a hot bowl (a sauce is nicer when it is hot, therefore the serving bowl should be soaking in hot water to keep the sauce warm).
You can add a spoonful of nice white Basmati rice or 2/3 boiled peeled kiffler potatoes with this dish.
Sauvignon blanc or a white chardonnay (not too sweet)will accompany this full flavor dish.
Quiche Lorraine from my mother's recipe
Almost everybody I know from the Lorraine region have this recipe from their mothers... it is such a popular family dish in France. This one is from Estelle 's mother and as she describes the dish it sure brings childhood memories...
Serve 6 to 8 persons
classic pie pastry dough (called "pâte brisée"* in France)
250g of smoked speck
1 yellow onion
3 eggs
250ml of whipping cream
250ml of milk
2 spoonful of flour
200g of grated Swiss cheese or Gruyere
Salt, pepper and grated nutmeg to taste
*For the pastry dough: 250g of flour, 125g of melted butter, 1/2 coffee spoon of salt and a small amount of water to help agglomerating these ingredients .
Mix the ingredients for the dough and form a ball.Roll down the ball of dough into 2 sheets of baking paper and place into the fridge for 20mn.
Cut the onion and the speck (or smoked bacon) in small pieces and cook until the speck releases some of its fat. Set aside.
In a bowl, crack the eggs incorporate the flour to the whipped eggs and mix slowly adding the whipping cream, the milk and a handful of grated cheese.Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Take the dough out of the fridge and place it in a quiche dish or tart dish (a quiche dish is slightly deeper than a tart dish). Remove the upper baking paper and pour the mixture over the dough. Add the rest of the grated cheese on the top.
Place into the oven at 210 degrees for 30 to 40mn.
This dish is delicious when served hot with a green salad but it can also be served cold as finger food when cut in small pieces.
This recipe is not limited to speck as you can replace it with smoked salmon, mushrooms, spinach, capsicums or fresh goat cheese...get creative and try!
Duck Breasts with Raspberries
Magret de canard in France is the duck 's breast that has been overfed so they can be bigger than the normal Duck breast. In Australia, I do not think you can find "magret" but you can use the normal Duck breasts. You will need to remove the bones if they are still in, but keep the skin and the fat under the skin...Raspberries can also be replaced by blueberries, sour apples or pears...
Serve 6 persons
Ingredients:
3 duck breast (1 duck has 2 breast fillet)
300 g of Raspberries
2 spoonful of raspberries wine vinegar
coarse sea salt & pepper
Take the meat out of the fridge at least 1 hour before cooking it.
Trace and cut slightly the skin into a grid so the fat will melt during cooking.
Heat up a frying pan at high temperature and put the duck breast into the frying pan. A lot of fat will melt. Remove this fat from the frying pan during the cooking and put it into a glass jar.(you can store it in your fridge for grilling potatoes as duck fat is a healthy alternative to butter).
When the 2/3 of fat on the breasts has melted, turn the breast over to the other side and cook for 7 to 10 min depending of how well cooked you like your meat to be.
Put the cooked duck breast on a wooden board and slice them and cook again both side of the slices in the same frying pan. Add the vinegar, salt and pepper. Put them on a serving dish aside.
Use the same frying pan with the juice of the meat to cook the raspberries in it for about 2 min. Put the cooked raspberries on top of the duck breasts and serve straight away.
You can accompany this dish with simply mashed potatoes, steamed green beans with garlic or boiled potatoes grilled in duck fat....
Bon Appetit !
3 duck breast (1 duck has 2 breast fillet)
300 g of Raspberries
2 spoonful of raspberries wine vinegar
coarse sea salt & pepper
Take the meat out of the fridge at least 1 hour before cooking it.
Trace and cut slightly the skin into a grid so the fat will melt during cooking.
Heat up a frying pan at high temperature and put the duck breast into the frying pan. A lot of fat will melt. Remove this fat from the frying pan during the cooking and put it into a glass jar.(you can store it in your fridge for grilling potatoes as duck fat is a healthy alternative to butter).
When the 2/3 of fat on the breasts has melted, turn the breast over to the other side and cook for 7 to 10 min depending of how well cooked you like your meat to be.
Put the cooked duck breast on a wooden board and slice them and cook again both side of the slices in the same frying pan. Add the vinegar, salt and pepper. Put them on a serving dish aside.
Use the same frying pan with the juice of the meat to cook the raspberries in it for about 2 min. Put the cooked raspberries on top of the duck breasts and serve straight away.
You can accompany this dish with simply mashed potatoes, steamed green beans with garlic or boiled potatoes grilled in duck fat....
Bon Appetit !
