This week's French Garden recipe

People who know me would tell you that it's hard to tell which I like more: gardening or cooking. I'd say it depends on which I'm doing at the moment. Anyway, French cooking and French gardening go hand in hand. For me, cooking is an on-going adventure. Join me here on my culinary explorations, where I share with you both my old favorites as well as new inspirations. It's my fondest wish that these recipes serve as a springboard for your own new creations.

11/06/2006
Seared black bass on a bed of Tarbais beans, pastis sauce (Filets de bar ou de rouget sur lit de haricots Tarbais, sauce pastis)   Clay pot 

Ingredients:

For 4 servings:

4 black bass, red mullet, or red perch filets of 6-8 oz. each, with skin, heads and bones of fish reserved for the fumet
2-3 T. flour
2 T. olive oil
8 oz. dried Tarbais beans or cannelini beans, soaked overnight
1 small onion, stuck with one clove, splash of olive oil, sea salt
1 ripe tomato, peeled, seeded, cut in 1/3" dice
12 good black olives, pitted
2 T. chopped fresh thyme, chervil, or parsley
2 T. best quality olive oil
12 giant capers with stems

For the fumet:

The heads and bones of the fish, or buy a small white-fleshed fish just for the fumet
1 T. olive oil
1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced
1 stalk leafy celery, sliced
1 onion, chopped
Green tops from 1 leek (optional)
Bouquet garni of 6 parsley sprigs, 3 leafy thyme sprigs, 1 bay leaf, some wild fennel leaves, or garden fennel leaves, or 1/2 t. fennel seed tied in a bit of cheesecloth or contained in a tea-infuser
1 c. white wine
Water to cover

For the sauce,

The fumet, reduced to 1/3 c.
1 c. white wine, reduced to a syrup
1 c. good quality pastis, reduced to a syrup
1 c. crème fraîche
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of cayenne or piment d'Espelette

Optional garnish:

20 mussels + 1/2 c. white wine
20 small shrimp, cooked, peeled
4 dried fennel stalks or 4 small bamboo skewers
Sprigs of fresh fennel or chervil

Cook the beans gently in a clay marmite if possible, with the clove-studded onion and splash of olive oil until just tender. Reserve.

Make the fish fumet. Warm the olive oil in a heavy casserole and gently saute the fish scraps for a few minutes, turning once. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Add the other ingredients and water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Strain and reserve the fumet, discarding the solids. Reduce the fumet over medium heat to about 1/3 cup. It will be syrupy and concentrated. Reduce likewise and separately the pastis and the wine.

If you are using the garnish, open the mussels by steaming them in the wine. Reserve their cooking liquid and reduce it gently to a couple of tablespoons. Taste it for saltiness. You can add it to the sauce (below) but in this case you probably won't need to salt the sauce. Thread the mussels and shrimp alternately on dry fennel stems or skewers; cover and keep warm.

Combine the reduced fumet, wine, pastis, and mussel liquid if using, in small heavy saucepan. Add the crème fraîche and heat to a gentle boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Correct the seasoning with salt, pepper, and piment d'Espelette or cayenne. Beware of salt if you used the mussel liquid, which is often very salty. Keep sauce warm.

Drain the beans and toss with the olive oil, fresh herb, olives, and tomato. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

Dust the fish filets lightly with flour. Heat the olive oil until rippling, and sear the fish, skin side down, until the about half of an inch of the edges of the filets become opaque. Turn and sear another minute. Remove from heat.

On heated plates, arrange a bed of the dressed beans. Top with a fish filet, skin side up. Pour the hot sauce into a food processor and whirl until lightly foamy. Divide over the four servings. Garnish with the mussel-shrimp skewers and fresh herb sprigs if desired. Serve immediately.

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Try some of our past French garden recipes:

Appetizers and small dishes

Basics

Beef, pork, lamb, and veal