(not) monkfish and double carrots {ffwd}
Another week of French Fridays with a recipe that I found uninspiring on the page: Monkfish and Double Carrots. I even postponed making it until Friday’s dinner. I just wasn’t sure about carrots in a carroty sauce topped with fish fillets topped with crumbled bacon.
I’m not a big fan of monkfish. I had it once before, long, long ago. In college, I went to a fancy dinner before a big dance. Dances weren’t really a thing at my school, and though the occasion must have been special, I have no idea what it was for. I do remember having dinner at one of the fanciest restaurants in Boston at that time, Maison Robert. It was a classic French restaurant, and I felt rather intimidated. I also felt adventurous and ordered lotte (monkfish) which I’d never had before. (Dinner is the only thing I actually remember about the evening. How fitting that I grew up to be food-obsessed.) My meal was so rich that my stomach was upset for most of the evening. Maybe it was just the sauce, not the fish itself, but I’ve never been tempted to eat monkfish again. So enough about something that happened over 30 years ago. On to tonight…
Food phobias aside, monkfish is not a fish I often see at the fish counter, so I knew I’d be swapping in a different fish or seafood. From the array of choices, I opted for some wild cod.
The double carrots come from carrots cooked in carrot juice enriched with some butter and olive oil. I was rather skeptical as it simmered on the stove. The fish is fried in the bacon fat rendered from the bacon bound for the top of the fish. I’m not sure cod was the best choice for pan-frying as it was fragile when I was flipping the fillets.
The sauce was very runny, so rather than serve on a plate, I used a pasta bowl. This makes a gorgeous presentation, just like a restaurant. To my surprise, it tasted like a restaurant meal as well. So much for being uninspiring on the page. Howard loved it too. “With bacon on top, how could it be bad?”, he said. I served this with roasted potatoes on the side.
This one is a winner, and company-worthy to boot. I learned from my first attempt, but there are so many possibilities to perfect it. As I said, a different fish might have worked better. Or, as Howard suggested, maybe we could sous-vide the fish and then sear it just before serving. Also, the suggested bed of mashed potatoes would have been a better way to go than roasted potatoes. Mashed potatoes would have acted as an edible sponge for the carrot sauce.
To see how the double carrots delight worked out for the other Doristas, check out their links here. You can find the recipe on-line here or in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table.
Happy Friday!
celery-celery soup {ffwd}
As if on cue, now that it’s October, the leaves started changing color and falling off the trees. It’s soup season! I love soup, but don’t make more than cold gazpacho over the summer. I’m excited that it’s time to put it back in the repertoire.
Changing colors on my walk this morning with Bella.
This week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie is for a Celery-Celery Soup. This week we start the fifth and final year of cooking through Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table. We’re down to the last 30 or so recipes. I’ll admit that some of what’s left doesn’t excite me. That’s what I felt when I read through this recipe.
Celery and celery root (ugliest vegetable ever) cooked with onions and apples sounded simple but boring. Wasn’t it nice to be surprised at how well this worked for me off the page.
The soup itself tasted good. I liked the smooth and creamy (though cream-less) texture. It was sweet and not sweet at the same time. However, it was the extras that made this so wonderful. The first bonne idée was to sauté tiny apple cubes in butter and curry powder. This “garnish” hid in the bottom of the bowl, covered by the ivory-colored innocuous-looking soup.
The second bonne idée was to make croutons with the same treatment. These went on top, so weren’t a secret. I LOVED it. It might have been the curry powder that made the flavors pop for me. I would consider adding a touch of curry powder right into the soup if I was short on time and wanted to skip the croutons and/or curried apples, though it will probably change the soup’s color. (Note I used only 4 cups of chicken broth as I’ve learned otherwise Dorie’s soup are too thin for me.)
Howard was away so he didn’t try this yet. I’m not sure whether he will (apples in savory food, you know). I did give half the batch to my neighbor, would will probably enjoy it more than he would.
To see what the other Doristas thought of their double-celery soup, check their links here. The recipe can be found in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table or online here.
(P.S. Happy Anniversary to my Dorista friends! It’s been a great journey together so far, full of so many unexpected friendships. I look forward to finishing up the book together plus whatever’s next.)
A Plateful of Happiness 