A sea casserole is one of the easiest and most impressive
dishes you can serve. Flounder fillets, shrimps and minced vegetables steam
together above a ginger seaweed broth perfumed with clamshells and oysters. No
half-shell treatment required as the heating will naturally insure the opening
of the shells. The same broth is used in a reduction finished with a dash of
heavy cream and a generous sprinkle of pepper. The secret is all in the timing
of the different cooking stages from immersion of the shells to the steaming of
vegetables and then the fish. The taste is naturally briny. The earth vegetable
needs a generous sprinkle of salt to match the one naturally contained in the
sea products. I like to soak my bread in the sauce. If you feel more Japanese
than French, sushi rice will fulfill the same function.
The dish feeds 4.
Sea casserole
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 15 minutes, Cheap)
Ingredients:
4 small flounder fillets
1 inch (2.5 cm) ginger root piece
8 oysters
8 clams
8 raw shrimps shell reserved
1 cup Japanese seaweeds (Hiziki, Arame)
1 Kombu sheet
2 leeks
Several leaves of Chinese cabbage,
8 carrots
¼ cup (60 ml) heavy cream
Salt and Pepper
Material:
1 fish steamer
1 food processor mincing attachment on
Salad bowl
Strainer
Saucepan
Place
the seaweeds in a salad bowl and cover with cold water.
Carefully
clean the oysters shells and clamshells in cold water.
Cut
off the greens from the leeks. Slice off the bottom and immerge in cold water.
Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage and wash 6 of the internal leaves.
Peel the carrots and slice off the bottom part. Grate all the vegetables in the
food processor.
Fill the steamer ¼ of the way with
water, the sliced ginger root and a Kombu sheet (the basis of dashi soup in
Japan). When the water boils, remove the kombu sheet and add the reconstituted
seaweeds. At the boiling point, add the oysters, clamshell and the shells of
the shrimps. When they open, remove oysters and clamshells. Reserve until ready
to serve.
Strain a cup worth of broth and
place in a saucepan to reduce with the cream.
Return the bottom part of the
steamer with its remaining content to the gas stove. Insert the upper part of
the steamer with the minced vegetables and a spoonful of salt in the steamer.
Cover and steam for 10 minutes. Add the fish and shrimps. Turn the gas off
after three minutes.
Place a layer of vegetables on each
plate. Top with the fish fillet, clams and oysters meat and shrimps. Pour
generously the creamy broth on top and serve.
Posts
