James Beard's New Fish Cookery (6 page)

VARIATION

You may prepare aigo-sau with only one fish or with as many as you please. It is also made without fish, with eggs poached in the broth just before serving. In this case it is sometimes called bouillabaisse borgne.

COTRIADE — A BRETON BOUILLABAISSE

4 large potatoes, peeled and quartered

4 large onions, peeled and quartered

Fish heads

Bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf, rosemary, parsley)

Salt

Water, about 1 pint per person

3 pounds fish (mackerel, eel, fresh sardines, mullet, cod)

Put the potatoes, onions, fish heads, bouquet garni, and salt in a pot and cover with water — a pint per person. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the fish heads. Add the fish, which has been cut into serving-sized pieces. Cook until the potatoes are tender and the fish cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Serve in two bowls, one for the broth and the other for the fish and vegetables.

BOURRIDE

There are about as many types of bourride as there are of bouillabaisse. It is difficult to offer one recipe that is representative, so I suggest two that are very different.

BOURRIDE I (CHIBERTA)

2 onions

2 cloves garlic

2 tomatoes

Bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf, fennel, parsley)

2 quarts water

Salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

11/2 pounds small fish (sole, smelt, sea bass)

Pinch of saffron

6 fillets sole
or
flounder

6 large slices day-old bread, fried in garlic-flavored olive oil

2 egg yolks

Sauce aïoli (pages 33–34)

Peel and chop the onions and garlic. Peel, seed, and chop the tomatoes. Add these with the bouquet garni to the water. Add salt to taste and the olive oil. Bring to a boil and add all the fish except the fillets. Simmer for 15 minutes and add a pinch of saffron.

Remove the fish to a hot dish and allow the bouillon to cook down for a few minutes. Strain it and rub the vegetables and seasonings through a fine sieve. Reheat the bouillon and poach the fillets until they are just cooked through. Remove them to a hot plate and keep the bouillon hot.

Fry the bread in garlic-flavored olive oil until nicely browned.

Beat the egg yolks well and stir them into the bouillon. Do not let it boil. Place each piece of fried toast in a soup plate, top each one with a fillet and cover with sauce aïoli. Surround with the rest of the fish and the broth.

BOURRIDE II

2 pounds fish (bass, haddock, flounder)

1 medium onion, finely chopped

Bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf, fennel, peel of half an orange)

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Boiling water

12 slices bread

Garlic

2 cups sauce aïoli (pages 33–34)

Prepare the fish — fillets will do. Cut them into small serving-sized pieces. Place them in the bottom of a saucepan and cover with the onion, bouquet garni, and salt and pepper to taste. Add boiling water to cover and a little above and let it boil for 10 minutes.

While the fish is cooking, toast the bread and rub well with garlic. Place it in a large tureen or deep platter. Then prepare enough sauce aïoli to use 1 cup in the sauce and have enough left (at least another cupful) to serve separately. You may estimate 1 egg and 1/4 cup of oil per person.

When the fish is cooked, remove it and keep it warm. Strain the bouillon and combine it, little by little, with 11/2 to 2 cups of the aïoli. Mix well without letting it curdle. When it is all mixed, put it in a saucepan over very low heat or over hot water and stir with a wooden spoon until the sauce just coats the spoon.
It must not boil.
Pour this sauce over the pieces of toast and serve the fish separately with additional aïoli.

BOUILLINADE DES PECHEURS

This is a fisherman’s dish that is a combination of French and Spanish cuisine, and while it shows some relationship to the Provençal dishes, it has a personality quite its own. It is properly made in an earthenware pot, but since few people have much success in top-of-the-stove cookery in earthenware, I think it is better to use copper, stainless steel, or aluminum.

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup butter

1 onion, finely minced

3 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 large minced sweet red peppers
or
pimientos, cut in fine julienne

1 pound potatoes, peeled and sliced or quartered

2 pounds fish (haddock, sea perch, sea bass, red snapper)

6 to 8 soft-shelled crabs
or
2 hard-shelled crabs broken into pieces

2 to 3 dozen mussels

1/3 cup flour

Sauce aïoli (pages 33–34)

Place the olive oil and butter in the bottom of the pan (the Rousillon natives like rancid lard, but the flavor is not pleasant to our palates); add to this the onion and garlic, the peppers or pimientos, potatoes, and fish cut into small serving-sized pieces, Top this with the crabs and mussels and sprinkle with flour. Cover the fish completely with water. Bring it to a boil and boil for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

Thicken the sauce with aïoli as in the preceding recipe. (The traditional way to make the sauce and thickening for this dish is to pound the liver of the fish with garlic, oil and egg yolks; however, we seldom get fish livers in this country and the method I give you is far simpler.)

This recipe will serve 6 to 8 people.

ZUPPA DI PESCE

This is an Italian version of the dishes above.

1/2 cup olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

Herbs (bay leaf, fennel, parsley)

1/2 cup white wine

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 pounds fish (eel, sea bass, skate, red snapper, or cod, with lobster, clams, or mussels)

2 quarts boiling water

6 to 12 slices of stale bread fried in olive oil

Chopped parsley

Garlic, finely minced

Heat the olive oil in a deep kettle; add the onion and herbs and let them cook for a few minutes. Add the wine, salt, and pepper and let it all blend thoroughly.

Cut all the fish into pieces for serving and cut the live lobster into sections. Wash the clams and wash and clean the mussels. Add the heavier fish to the hot olive oil mixture and cook for just a minute. Add boiling water and cook for 4 minutes. Add the lighter fish and the shellfish and cook for 5 to 6 minutes more. Taste for seasoning.

Meanwhile, brown 6 to 12 pieces of stale bread in olive oil until crisp. Remove the cooked fish to a tureen. Let the broth cook down for a few minutes and pour it over the fish. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, a little garlic, and a dusting of black pepper. Serve on top of the fried bread in soup bowls.

CIOPPINO

This is a California dish with a noble history that is now tarnished by commercialism. It was originally made by the Portuguese fishermen along the coastal counties of California; much care went into its preparation. In recent years, a bastardized version has become standard fare in many seafood restaurants — one of those “specialties of the house” resting for hours on a steam table.

1 sea bass
or
striped bass

1 pound shrimp

1 quart clams
or
mussels

1/4 pound dried mushrooms (Italian variety)

1 West Coast crab
or
lobster

3 or 4 tomatoes

1 green pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

1/3 cup tomato paste

1 pint red wine

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Cut the raw fish into serving-sized pieces. Shell the shrimp, leaving the tails intact. Clean and steam the mussels or clams and save the liquid. Soak the mushrooms in cold water. Break the crab apart, or if you use lobster, cut it in pieces. Peel and chop the tomatoes and chop the green pepper.

Place the olive oil in a deep pot; when it is hot add the onion, garlic, parsley, mushrooms, and green pepper and cook for 3 minutes. Next add the tomatoes and the paste, the wine, and the liquid from the mussels or clams. Salt and pepper to taste, cover, and let it simmer for 30 minutes. Add the cut-up fish, the shrimp and the crab or lobster, and cook until done. Serve with plenty of red wine and garlic bread.

VARIATION

Helen Evans Brown of the
West Coast Cook Book
adds oregano and basil to her recipe, which give it an Italian touch. She also says that there are recipes calling for white wine, sherry, and other wines.

It is my opinion that cioppino is a result of the various Mediterranean cuisines that met on the shores of California.

SOLIANKA

This rather interesting stew is found often in the Northwest where it was introduced by the White Russians, who arrived via China after the Russian Revolution. It is particularly suited to this part of the country, where salmon abound.

2 pounds fish bones and heads, or 2 pounds bony fish, with head

11/2 quarts water

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 large, ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped

3 tablespoons butter

11/2 pounds salmon, cut in strips

1 tablespoon each of chopped black olives and chopped green olives

4 dill pickles, finely chopped

2 teaspoons capers

2 onions, finely chopped

1 bay leaf

4 tablespoons additional butter

Chopped parsley, additional chopped olives, and lemon slices, for garnish

Cook the fish bones and heads in the water, seasoned with salt and pepper, for 11/2 hours. Drain off the broth and reserve. Simmer the tomatoes in butter for 15 minutes. Season to taste. Arrange the salmon strips in a deep pot with the onions, pickles, tomatoes, capers, and chopped olives. Cover with the fish broth, add the bay leaf, and simmer 12 to 15 minutes. Add 4 tablespoons of butter. Serve in bowls, garnished with chopped olives, chopped parsley, and lemon slices.

NOTE
: A tablespoon or more of chopped fresh dill or two teaspoons dill weed make this a most appetizing soup with another accent.

RUSSIAN FISH STEW

1 pound flounder
or
sole

1 pound pike

1/2 lemon

6 potatoes cut in 1/2-inch slices

3 large onions, sliced

2 carrots cut in fine julienne

2 quarts water

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Paprika

Slice the fish in serving-sized pieces. Cover them with lemon juice and place in the refrigerator for several hours.

Prepare a bouillon with the vegetables, water, and seasonings. Cook for nearly an hour. Add the fish and simmer for about 15 minutes. Serve very hot.

UKHA

2 quarts water

Bouquet garni (leek, celery, carrot, onions, bay leaf, thyme)

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 pint white wine

2 pounds carp

1 pound pike

1 pound eel

Lemon juice

Croutons

Garlic-flavored oil or butter

Combine the water, bouquet garni, and seasonings and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the wine and the carp and simmer until the fish begins to fall apart — about 35 to 40 minutes. Strain and force the fish and the seasonings through a fine sieve. Return the broth to the pan and bring it to a boil. Add the pike and eel cut into small serving-sized pieces. Simmer for 15 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add lemon juice (about 4 tablespoons) just before serving. Serve with croutons fried in garlic-flavored oil or butter.

MATELOTE OF EELS NORMANDIE

Mirepoix (see page 20)

2 pounds eel

11/2 cups cider

Parsley

Tarragon

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup cream

Fresh sorrel (if available)
or
lemon juice

12 small onions

Butter

Fried croutons

Prepare a mirepoix and put it at the bottom of a large saucepan. Cut the eel into serving-sized pieces and place it on top. Add the cider, parsley, tarragon, and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove the eel to a hot platter and keep hot.

Reduce the bouillon to 1 cup. Strain. Melt the butter in a saucepan or double boiler and blend in the flour. Add the bouillon gradually, stirring constantly, until the sauce is thick and smooth. Remove from the heat and add the egg yolks and cream; stir until well blended and taste for seasoning. If available, add a few leaves of chopped sorrel — or a good squeeze of lemon juice. Pour the sauce over the eels and surround with small white onions that have been browned in butter and steamed until tender. Serve fried croutons, or slices of bread fried in butter and flavored, if you wish, with garlic.

CRAB GUMBO

There seems to be great differences of opinion about this famous dish and I cannot tell who is right. So I give a New Orleans version and a Western version and will let you fight it out on your own stove.

CRAB GUMBO, NEW ORLEANS VERSION

12 crabs (either hard- or soft-shelled)

3 tablespoons butter

1 large onion, chopped

1 pound okra

6 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped

Seasonings (thyme, bay leaf, parsley, salt, cayenne pepper)

Water

Boiled rice

Clean the crabs. If you use the hard-shelled variety, break off the claws and cut the body in quarters. If you use soft-shelled, leave them whole.

Melt the butter in a large pot and cook the onion until lightly browned. Add the okra and tomatoes, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Uncover and add the seasonings, the crabs, and enough water to cover and a little over. Simmer for 40 minutes.

Serve very hot in bowls with boiled rice.

CRAB GUMBO, WESTERN VERSION

2 Dungeness crabs

4 tablespoons butter

2 large onions, coarsely chopped

5 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 green pepper cut in julienne