Jane Grigson's Fish Book - Jane Grigson [142]
WINTER ARTICHOKE SALAD
I discovered by accident how well the earthy flavour of Jerusalem artichoke combines with the sweetness of prawns. Christmas came round one year, and there was no possibility of having the usual smoked eel or smoked salmon. I bought some prawns in their shells instead. Wondering exactly how I was going to serve them, I drove home and came in through the back kitchen past a basket of Jerusalem artichokes. The dish was a great success. It looked beautiful with the contrast of grey, pink and green: the flavour was fresh and unusual, an appetizing start for the lengthy Christmas dinner. It is also good before strong and substantial game dishes.
The quantity of prawns can be varied; you want enough to provide the contrast, but not so many that they become too dominant. I sometimes buy 750 g (1½ lb) prawns in their shells (for six people), set a few aside for decoration, then shell the rest; the debris goes into a pot with fish bones to make the next day’s soup, or stock for a prawn sauce to serve with cauliflower, p. 281.
Serves 6
1 kg (2 lb) Jerusalem artichokes
about 125 g (4 oz) shelled prawns or shrimps
olive oil vinaigrette
plenty of chopped parsley and chives or spring onion
6 prawns in their shells
Cook the artichokes in their skins. Peel and slice them neatly. This means discarding the squashy parts, but do not throw them away – they can be used to flavour mashed potato, or potato soup. Put the slices in a shallow dish and dot the prawns or shrimps over the top. Pour on enough vinaigrette to moisten the salad and add a good scattering of herbs. Arrange the prawns in their shells on top. Serve well chilled.
NOTE The artichokes can be cooked and sliced well in advance. Cover them with vinaigrette. Add the shellfish an hour before serving, and chill.
RAY see A FEW WORDS ABOUT… SKATE
† RED MULLET
Mullus surmuletus
Red mullet is one of the finest fish in the sea, though sadly for Americans it is confined to the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Atlantic coast of Europe: it can also be one of the most confusing. First of all, your eye may be deceived by the similar but paler rose-coral of the gurnard (and, in France, by the similar name of rouget). Secondly, your ear can be deceived so that you buy other, cheaper mullet – grey or rainbow or striped for instance – thinking they are going to taste the same, or at least similar: they do not, and belong to quite another family, the Mugilidae or true mullets. The red mullet is a goatfish of the Mullidae family, and far superior in flavour.
Sometimes it is called sea woodcock, because of its liver which must on no account be discarded with the other innards (the woodcock is always cooked with its trail). This delectable item was much prized by the Romans who had a passion for red mullet. Martial exhorted his readers not to sully their gold dishes with mullet weighing less that 1 kg (2 lb) – the Romans had a vulgar weakness for size. Personally, I am grateful for any red mullet I see, and have never noticed any difference in flavour between medium and large fish – the small mullet you sometimes see in frozen blocks are tasteless, but this is not their fault. In markets in Provence, I have seen these miniature fish in the mixtures sold for making Bouillabaisse and other fish soups; they are part of the general rock fish mixture.
It is a commonplace of cookery that the best fish need the simplest cooking. One or two flavourings, though, have become part of the red mullet tradition, fennel, for instance, and tomatoes. Olives, too. Certainly such things are a help, not because the mullet needs them but because it is too expensive a fish to buy in lavish quantities.
I sometimes meditate ruefully on the subject, and recall that one night in August 1819, 5,000 red mullet were taken in Weymouth Bay. The sea was red with