20 replies to this topic

[Liza]

D. just called from Union Square to say he has procured some sorrel for tonight. So, fellow comrades and Egulleteers, any instructions for making a sauce with sorrel? We've got fresh pollock just asking for it...

[Jinmyo]

Actually, I'd wrap sorrel leaves around pieces of the pollack and poach in a court boullion and serve with a Dijon sauce.

[Liza]

I'll bet you would! Sounds possible, actually, if I can distract D. from his cunning plan. . .

[cabrales]

Liza -- Consider some variation of Troisgros' sorrel sauce, used for the famed salmon with sorrel dish.

http://www.troisgros...able/saumon.htm

There's another version of the recipe (unclear whether the same) in the English version of the Troisgros' "Hachette"-published books (both the Pierre/Jean collaboration and the Pierre/Michel edition).  ;)

[Liza]

Many thanks, Cabrales. I do have some fish stock in the freezer so the possibilities are multiplying.

[Jinmyo]

Keep us informed by the minute, Liza. I like cunning food plans. And what occurs to the best laid plans... And how it can often make them better. ;)

[Liza]

We're going to be torturously well fed this season - D. is a manager at the greenmarket and brings something home every night.

[cabrales]

Liza -- As you may know, the Troisgros salmon dish has been mentioned in other threads, including:

"Chef of the Century" under "General", p. 3 (Bocuse's meal served to VGE included Troisgros' salmon dish)

"Frozen Truffles Not Bad At All" under "Cooking" (my meal involving the salmon dish)  ;)

[Wilfrid]

D. is a manager at the greenmarket ...

Good news for all of us.  As I said on the trout thread, Liza, you cannot post too many useful greenmarket tips as far as I'm concerned.

Jinmyo, you mentioned Dijon sauce.  The sauce I put around the trout last night was a very simple mustard sauce - equal parts Dijon mustard (Maille) and melted butter, stirred firmly together, drizzle in warm white wine (so it doesn't separate) and season.  I bet your Dijon sauce is much fancier...what goes on?

[Jinmyo]

No, Wilfrid, that's pretty much what I would do. And I even use Maille as well.  

[Liza]

Well the sorrel didn't make it to the table. The pollock was given a splash of olive oil, some fresh thyme, slivers of garlic and popped in the oven. Roasted a few morels and hedgehogs, whipped up a mustardy mayonnaise and there was dinner.  
So we still have the sorrel and I'll bet D. will have another cunning plan by this afternoon.

[Wilfrid]

Roast hedgehog.  There's another thread.  I understand that it is practice in some cultures to roast them in clay; I assume you remove the spines first?  Didn't know they were selling them in the greenmarket, though.  

[Adam_Balic]

Roast Hedgehog is Romany I think. The spines remain on and peel of when you remove the clay. Australian Aboriginals do similar things with Echidna and also fish (scales peel off with the clay). If you want to eat Porcupine you have to skin them first (spines are too long), but this gives you an effect not unlike a skinned human baby I have been told. . Very tasty though. .

At a recent Farmers Market in the UK, people were served roast badger, however most people didn't know the real identity of the beast (they were told it was "Earth-pig"). Apparently, it was well received anyway.

[Liza]

Roasted hedgehogs...I did mean mushrooms. Sorry for the confusion!

[Jinmyo]

I've had some excellent hedgehog mushrooms just last week. Mixed them with oyster, shitake, portobello. Marinated in shoyu, tagarashi, sake, a few drops of sesame oil. Roasted. Very very nice.

Oh, and now I remember. I used the rest in a garlic and butter sauce for linguine with a side of Italian liver sausages. That was good too.

How long does their season last.

Liza, I've also wrapped semi-silken tofu with sorrel and served with a lime and chili dipping sauce.

Keep us informed of that sorrel.

[Jim Dixon]

I planted sorrel last year, but didn’t really do much with it. It’s apparently a perennial, since I have a bright green patch of the stuff in the same spot, and this thread inspired me to use some of the tender spring leaves.

I’d eat the troisgros sauce in a minute, but my wife doesn’t care for cream-based sauces. I had planned to get a piece of fish, and was digging through the odds and ends in the refrigerator for the rest of the night’s dinner, when a half-dozen fingerling potatoes gave me an idea. Here’s what I made...

I started with the basic troisgros recipe....chopped shallot in half cup each dry Vermouth and white wine (Chatom Sauvignon Blanc from California in this case), reduced to less than a quarter cup.

I mashed a couple of the boiled, peeled spuds (for about a half cup total) and stirred them into the reduced wine...also added a chunk of butter, probably about 1 1/2 T. Picked a small handful of sorrel, cut in chiffonade, and stirred that in with a bit of skim milk to thin the sauce (fish stock would’ve been better, but I didn’t have any on hand).

Chopped a tiny bit of zest and squeezed a quarter of a small lemon, stirred it in. All of this since the intial reduction was off the heat.

I still needed some fish, so I took the dogs out for a walk, stopped by our neighborhood store (Nature’s, bought by Wild Oats and slowly morphing into one of their stores), and picked up a filet of fresh Alaskan cod. Got home, pulled out a few pin bones, drizzled with a bit of olive oil, and roasted in our little Delonghi convection oven.

When the fish was just about done, I turned on the gas under the sorrel mix, heated it for a minute or two, and spooned it over the filets. It provided some of the flavor of the troisgros, the slightly astringent sorrel and hint of lemony tang with an earthy quality from the potatoes.

Served with a ‘succotash’ of fresh favas, roasted cherry tomatoes, and the rest of the fingerling potatoes, all cooked separately then combined with more shallots sauteed in olive oil.

Jim

[Wilfrid]

Adam, I should have thought there was no open season for badger.  Protected species, surely.  Maybe these were poached.  In red wine.   HAHAHAHAHAHA!  (falls off chair)

[tommy]

Adam, I should have thought there was no open season for badger.  Protected species, surely.  Maybe these were poached.  In red wine.   HAHAHAHAHAHA!  (falls off chair)

lucky me.  i checked this thread out just in time for that little gem.  *groan*

[Wilfrid]

Yeah?  Like you've been funny today!  Don't tell me, the NJ board is a riot!  

[Adam_Balic]

Adam, I should have thought there was no open season for badger.  Protected species, surely.  Maybe these were poached.  In red wine.   HAHAHAHAHAHA!  (falls off chair)

They are protected in the sense that the British goverment is about to kill 10,000 of the blighters to protect their cattle from Mycobacteria bovis[I] (Moo-Cow TB causative agent). But yes, this one was poached (then roasted), you see that was the funny bit about it, serving up Mr. Badger to a whole bunch of Delia Smith enthusists and telling them it was Mr. Piggy. Not a single one of them noticed that there was something a bit different about it.

[cabrales]

Liza -- Consider some variation of Troisgros' sorrel sauce, used for the famed salmon with sorrel dish. . . .
There's another version of the recipe (unclear whether the same) in the English version of the Troisgros' "Hachette"-published books (both the Pierre/Jean collaboration and the Pierre/Michel edition).  ;)

Here's how the sorrel sauce is described in Jean and Pierre Troisgros' book "The Nouvelle Cuisine" (Papermac, first published 1982).

For four people, the ingredients are listed to be: 80 g fresh sorrel, 2 shallots (not included in the current Troisgros website's recipe), 500 ml "fish fumet" (there is a separate recipe for this stock that I will not include), 4 tablespoons dry white wine (e.g., Sancerre), 2 tablespoons white Vermouth, 400 ml double cream, 40 g butter, lemon juice (from 1/2 lemon), salt and pepper.

Paraphrasing the instructions:

The sorrel should first be trimmed and washed. Large leaves should be rendered smaller. The shallots should be finely chopped. Utilize a saute pan for the fish stock, white wine, Vermouth and shallots. Put the pan over the heat until there results an almost glaze-like "glistening syrup".  Then, following the addition of the cream, allow the mixture to boil until there is a slight thickening. Incorporate the sorrel and, after about 25 seconds, remove the pan from the heat and include small pieces of butter. During this stage, the pan should be shaken about to allow the sauce to emulsify (no whisk). Finally, add lemon juice, salt and pepper.

The book lists indicative simple menus, and suggested "advanced menus", for readers. The advanced menus section includes the following:

Salad of Hen Pheasants
Troisgros Salmon Escalopes with Sorrel
Peaches and Almonds in Beaujolais