Jane Grigson's Fish Book - Jane Grigson [247]
Open the bag of mussels, discard all but 8–10 of the shells. Put in a bowl. Open the lobster bag, clean away any debris and useless shell, but leave most of the lobster in its shell. Add to the mussels.
Up to this point, the recipe can be prepared in advance, but only by an hour or two.
Twenty minutes before serving, have everything ready on the table and a bowl of garlic croûtons keeping warm. Bring the liquor up to boiling point. Add Pernod, fennel and tomatoes and boil vigorously for 10 minutes. Check the seasoning at this point, adding extra lemon juice or Pernod if it seems a good idea, but be careful not to overdo either. Add salt and pepper, a pinch or two of cayenne. Keep at a vigorous boil and put in the monkfish or turbot pieces; leave 1 minute. Put in the red mullet, leave 1 minute, then the gurnard, and leave 30 seconds. Switch off the heat, stir in mussels and lobster meat. Taste again, and serve.
Be careful about the timings, and keep them on the short side: the fish should just be cooked through, no more, and remember it will continue to cook as you bring it to table. Serve into hot bowls, giving an equal distribution of fish and shellfish, with the garlic croûtons.
MEURETTE À LA BOURGUIGNONNE
Meurette is the famous Burgundian stew of river fish cooked in red wine. Pochouse or pauchouse is a similar concoction made with white wine, Meursault preferably, and garnished with small caramelized onions as well as triangles of bread. They are both a form of Matelote, see p. 499. Incidentally, Meurette shows that red wine goes as well with fish as white; one more ‘rule’ tumbling to the ground. (You can think of sole with Chambertin as well as the rich-fleshed salmon.)
This is a fisherman’s recipe; when a bag of mixed fish is presented to you, it is an excellent way of dealing with them. Divide them into thick, medium and thin piles, so that none gets overcooked.
Serves 6
1½–2 kg (3–4 lb) river fish – pike, tench, eel, bream, etc.
3 large carrots, sliced
2 large onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic
thyme, bay leaf, bunch of parsley
salt, freshly ground black pepper
1 bottle red wine (from Burgundy for preference)
3 or 4 slices of bread
125 g (4 oz) butter
1 tablespoon plain flour
liqueur glass of marc or brandy
Clean the fish. Cut off the heads and tails (and put them into a piece of muslin if they are numerous and muddled). Chop the fish into roughly equal pieces and season them.
Butter a sauté pan with a butter paper. Line it with rings of carrot and onion, 3 of the 4 cloves of garlic crushed, the thyme, bay leaf, parsley stalks and seasoning. Put in the bottle of wine and bring to the boil. Tie the muslin bag of fish heads to the pan handle, and let it sink well into the bubbling liquid. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile cut the bread into triangles and rub them with the fourth clove of garlic. Fry them in 30 g (1 oz) of the butter, on both sides, and keep warm. Mash up another 30 g (1 oz) of butter with the flour and divide the resulting paste into little pieces (beurre manié); leave to one side until later on.
Put the thickest pieces of fish into the sauté pan. After 5 minutes’ cooking, add the medium ones. After 5 minutes again, the thinnest ones. In another 5 minutes or less everything should be cooked. Discard the fishes’ heads, in or out of the muslin. Pour off the liquor into a saucepan. Warm the marc, set it alight and tip it over the fish and vegetables, stirring them about in the flames. Keep warm, while