Just a French Guy Cooking
Page 10
a few drops of sesame oil
a drizzle of olive oil
a drizzle of soy sauce
Soften the rice wrappers by dabbing them with a damp cloth or dipping them briefly in warm water. Place the wrappers on a board in a flower pattern so they overlap nicely.
Put the grated cabbage, mushrooms and bamboo shoots in the centre. Season the fish fillet well and place on top of the vegetables, then add some sprigs of coriander and some ginger. Drizzle over the sesame oil, olive oil and soy sauce. Fold the rice wrappers around the filling, making sure the packet is airtight.
If you don’t have a proper steamer, it’s not a problem – I don’t have one either. So, DIY time! Screw up 3 sheets of foil into equal-size balls, each about the size of a clementine. Place these in a large saucepan and cover them three-quarters with water. Stand a small heatproof plate on top of the foil balls – the plate must not touch the sides of the pan. DIY steamer done! As an added bonus, it needn’t only be used for fish in rice wrappers.
Rub the plate with a piece of oiled kitchen paper [paper towel] and then put the fish parcel on top. Cover the saucepan with a lid, place over a high heat and leave to cook for about 10–15 minutes.
Picture.
It’s very important to remember:
Taste is not the only thing that matters in life. At the table, don’t neglect either the presentation or the drama as it’s the eyes that feast first.
An unforgivable French take on fish ‘n’ chips
You have to do it at least once: the best fish ‘n’ chips are eaten in the street in London, on a bench that’s too narrow, surrounded by deafening car horns, in the pouring rain, with greasy hands and steamed up glasses. But, if that experience doesn’t appeal, you can also cook fish ‘n’ chips at home.
Serves 4
For the sauce
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 egg yolk
salt, to taste
1 tsp mustard
75ml [1/3 cup] neutral flavoured oil, e.g. rapeseed [canola], groundnut [peanut]
75ml [1/3 cup] olive oil
finely grated zest and juice of ½ lemon, plus extra lemon wedges to serve
pinch of chilli flakes
For the batter
225ml [1 cup] beer (I use a light or pale ale)
100g [1 cup] cornflour [cornstarch]
60g [½ cup] plain [all-purpose] flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp dried Mediterranean herbs, e.g. oregano, thyme, herbes de Provence
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda [baking soda]
For the fish
4 × 175g [6oz] fish fillets, about 1cm [in] thick at the tail end and 2cm [¾in] at the top – you can use cod, haddock or another white fish. I even made the recipe once with monkfish and it was great but, whichever fish you choose, make sure you go for one with an MSC certificate.
cornflour [cornstarch] for dusting
groundnut [peanut] oil for deep-frying
For the sauce, put the crushed garlic, egg yolk, salt, mustard and lemon zest in a bowl. Mix the 2 oils together and gradually whisk in until incorporated. Bravo! You’ve made a mayonnaise. Finally, whisk in the lemon juice and chilli flakes.
For the batter, pour the beer into a wide, deep dish and lightly mix in the cornflour, flour, salt, pepper, dried herbs and bicarbonate of soda. Any lumps? Even better.
To prepare the fish, dust the fillets with cornflour until coated, shaking off any excess. Heat the oil for deep-frying in a large pan to 180°C [350°F].
Dip the fish fillets in the batter until coated, then deep-fry until golden brown. Drizzling a little extra batter over the fillets while they are cooking makes for even more crispy and crunchy shards of batter when fried. Drain the fillets on a plate lined with kitchen paper [paper towels] and serve at once with the sauce and wedges of lemon.
So, what happened to the chips? Answer: there aren’t any. The fish is too good and anyway there is enough fat already. Instead, I suggest you accompany the fish with a crisp, full-flavoured salad.
Pictures overleaf.
Any fish, meunière-style
A dish that is very, very classic in French cuisine is ‘sole meunière’ aka sole ‘à la meunière’, or – to translate – ‘sole in the style of a miller’s wife’. The fish is coated in flour before being fried in butter. It’s easy and super–quick, plus – and not many people know this – lots of other types of fish can be cooked in the same way.
Serves 2
salt and pepper
2 trout, total weight about 700g [1lb 9oz], trimmed, scaled and cleaned (a job for the fishmonger!)
60g [½ cup] plain [all-purpose] flour
3 Tbsp neutral flavoured oil
80g [1/3 cup] butter
½ lemon
chopped fresh herbs (basil, parsley, tarragon…) for sprinkling
Season the inside of the trout with salt and pepper. Dust them in the flour until coated, then shake off any excess.
Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the fish to the pan and when they are lightly browned underneath, add the butter. Fry for 4 minutes, still over a medium heat, until they are golden brown. Using a spatula, turn the fish over.
Lower the heat and cook for a further 5 minutes, spooning the oil and butter over the fish constantly and making sure the butter doesn’t burn. Lift the trout out of the pan and onto serving plates.
Squeeze the juice from the lemon into the pan and whisk it into the hot, foaming butter and oil. Spoon over the fish, sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs and serve immediately.
Prawns in garlic, butter and parsley with Sichuan chilli oil
The aromatic oil, spiced with Sichuan pepper, is the real reason why I’ve chosen this recipe. It’s easy, quick, fiery, spicy, full of flavour and you’ll feel the pain, but it’s also devilishly addictive. I find it fascinating to see how the aromatic profile of a dish can be changed completely with just a few drops of oil – don’t you agree?
Serves 2 or 4 as a starter
For the chilli oil
(Prepare this at least 24 hours ahead)
225ml [1 cup] neutral flavoured oil
2.5-cm [1-in] piece of root ginger, peeled and sliced
white part of 4 spring onions [scallions], sliced
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
6 whole cloves
8 Tbsp red chilli flakes
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
3–4 Sichuan peppercorns
For the prawns
1 garlic clove
25g [1 Tbsp] butter
½ tsp salt
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
225g [8oz] cooked peeled prawns [shrimp]
1 Tbsp neutral flavoured oil
For the chilli oil, heat the oil in a saucepan with the ginger, spring onions, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and whole cloves over a medium-low heat for about 5 minutes until the onions start to brown.
Strain the oil, return it to the pan and place over a medium heat. Meanwhile, put 5 tablespoons of chilli flakes in a heatproof ceramic or glass bowl. When the oil is just starting to smoke, pour half of it carefully over the chilli flakes in the bowl. Leave until the bubbles in the oil die down before continuing.
Add the sesame seeds to the bowl with another tablespoon of chilli flakes and the peppercorns. Pour in the remaining oil and leave to infuse for 24 hours, by which time the oil will have turned orangey red.
The oil can be kept in a covered container for a few weeks at room temperature or even longer in the refrigerator.
When ready to cook the prawns, crush the garlic with the butter and salt. Add the parsley and pound everything together. You might not know it but you’ve just made a true classic of French cuisine called beurre maître d’hôtel. And that’s all I’m saying.
Heat the oil in a frying pan [skillet] over a medium heat and fry the prawns for a few minutes until lightly browned. Add the garlic and parsley butter, stirring so the pra
wns are coated, and serve hot. It’s already a very good dish but with a drizzle of the red oil, it’s to die for.
Baked caramelized miso aubergines
Although it’s one of my favourite vegetables, the aubergine can be a capricious character in the kitchen. Badly cooked, it’s tough, dry and bitter but, well cooked, it melts in the mouth, is juicy and almost sweet. By adding miso and caramelizing it, this hidden sweetness is emphasized even more.
Serves 2
2 aubergines [eggplants]
neutral flavoured oil
salt
1 vegetable stock [bouillon] cube
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp sake (or any dry white wine)
2 Tbsp mirin (or any sweet white wine)
2 Tbsp white miso
sesame seeds
chilli powder or chilli flakes, to garnish
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/400ºF/Gas 6.
Cut the aubergines in half lengthwise. Using a sharp knife, make deep diagonal cuts, 1cm [½in] apart, in the aubergine flesh, without piercing the skin. Now make more cuts on the opposite diagonal so the flesh is scored in a lattice pattern. Brush the flesh of each aubergine half with oil and sprinkle with salt. Lay the halves on a baking sheet, flesh side up, and cook in the oven for 35–40 minutes. Test with the point of a knife – the aubergine flesh should be very tender.
Meanwhile, put a saucepan over a high heat, add 125ml [½ cup] water, the crumbled vegetable stock cube, soy sauce, sake and mirin. Bring to the boil and bubble until the sauce reduces by one-third. Take the pan off the heat and add the miso, mixing it in well.
When the aubergines are cooked, brush them with the reduced mirin sauce, making sure you brush plenty into the cuts in the flesh. Sprinkle over some sesame seeds and grill [broil] the aubergines until the surface begins to caramelize and small bubbles appear on the surface. Remove the aubergines from the heat and sprinkle with a pinch of chilli powder or chilli flakes for that extra kick.
Something to meditate on
In France, a dish is considered complete (we say ‘abouti’) when nothing else can be added to it. In Japan, a dish is ‘abouti’ when nothing can be taken away. Which proves that it’s all a question of your point of view...
Sexy ratatouille
Ratatouille is slow-cooked comfort food where the flavours of all the different ingredients combine harmoniously to produce a dish that is greater than the sum of its parts. The problem is that it can often look like vegetable porridge but not here, where it’s guaranteed to blow you away!
Serves 4
4 large tomatoes
1 yellow courgette [zucchini]
1 green courgette [zucchini]
2 small aubergines [eggplants]
1 onion
2 red [bell] peppers, deseeded
2 garlic cloves
olive oil
sea [kosher] salt flakes and pepper
1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme and rosemary leaves
Using a very sharp knife, cut the tomatoes, courgettes and aubergines into thin slices. As much as possible try to ensure all the slices are the same thickness so they cook evenly. Set the best-looking slices of the same size – at least 5cm [2in] in diameter – to one side for topping the ratatouille and keep the trimmings for the sauce.
Roughly chop the onion, peppers and garlic cloves. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the chopped veg to the pan with the sliced vegetable trimmings. Season with salt and pepper and add the thyme and rosemary leaves. Cook for 10 minutes and then blitz in a blender to make a thick, orangey red sauce.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan/350ºF/Gas 4. Brush an ovenproof dish with oil and spoon the sauce into it in an even layer, about 1cm [½in] thick.
Roll up your sleeves and arrange the reserved tomato, courgette and aubergine slices alternately on top of the sauce. So that they look really good, you need to overlap the slices quite tightly, a bit like the scales of a fish. Give the slices a final drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle over flakes of salt. Cover the dish with foil or baking parchment and bake for 30–45 minutes.
Place the dish in the centre of the dining table and wait for the “wow!” that is bound to follow. If it doesn’t, take your dish back and eat the ratatouille in the kitchen all by yourself. But there’s no chance of that!
An eye-opening mapo tofu (for vegetarians)
The day I discovered this recipe was the day I realized that Chinese cuisine had nothing in common with how we perceive it in the West. All I can say is that this recipe is a long way from chop suey, sweet and sour pork and crab wontons. And, as a not inconsiderable bonus, a large number of my YouTube followers in China have told me it’s authentic...
Serves 2
300g [10½oz] silken tofu
2 Tbsp neutral flavoured oil
50g [1¾oz] mushrooms, minced
50g [1¾oz] onions, minced
1 heaped Tbsp dou ban jiang (a salty and pungent paste of fermented broad [fava] beans. If you can’t find it, you could use Chinese soya bean paste, Korean gochujang or even Japanese red miso)
2 tsp dou-chi (fermented black soya beans)
2.5-cm [1-in] piece of root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped white parts of 2 spring onions [scallions], finely chopped
1 Tbsp cornflour [cornstarch]
To finish
drizzles of sesame and chilli oils
green parts of 2 spring onions [scallions], finely chopped
a generous sprinkle of freshly ground Sichuan black pepper
Heat a wok or big pan of water over a high heat, bringing the water to simmering point. As the water is heating up, cut the tofu into 2-cm [¾-in] cubes. Add to the hot water, cook for a few minutes and then drain and set aside. This firms up the outside of the tofu.
Place a clean, dry wok over a high heat. Add the oil and then the mushrooms, onions and dou ban jiang.
Add the dou-chi, the ginger, garlic and white part of the spring onions and stir-fry until the ingredients give off a nice aroma. Pour 225ml [1 cup] water into a measuring jug and add two-thirds to the wok. Mix the cornflour with the remaining third until smooth and add it to the wok, stirring until thickened and smooth.
Add the tofu cubes but do not stir any more, simply push the cubes very gently back and forth in the wok so they don’t break up.
Finish with drizzles of sesame and chilli oils, the finely chopped green parts of the spring onions and a generous sprinkle of freshly ground Sichuan black pepper. It’s hot stuff!
The more you know...
The powerful but balanced taste of Mapo Tofu comes from its 7 fundamental taste sensations: « Ma » numbing, « là » spicy heat, « tanhg » fiery temperature, « Xian » fresh, « nène » tender and soft, « xiang » aromatic and « Su » flaky.
Polenta clafoutis
In France, a clafoutis is sweet. That’s how it is, how it’s always been and I see no reason to change that... except, of course, that it’s fun! So, now clafoutis is savoury. There are no longer cherries but cherry tomatoes and it’s goodbye baked custard and hello polenta! This ‘trompe l’oeil’ dish is delicious and dead easy to make. Another trick of mine? When it comes out of the oven, sprinkle it with basil leaves. It’s classy.
Serves 4–6
1 litre [4 cups] whole milk 75g [½ cup] instant polenta [yellow cornmeal]
4 Tbsp grated Parmesan
1 Tbsp double [heavy] cream
salt and pepper
3 eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp roughly chopped basil leaves
250g [9oz] cherry tomatoes, halved
Preheat the oven to 190ºC/170ºC fan/375ºF/Gas 5.
Bring the milk to the boil in a saucepan, add in the polenta and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the Parmesan and cream and season with salt and pepper.
Cool a little and then stir in the beaten eggs, mixing well so the eggs do not scramble. Finally, stir in the c
hopped basil.
Pour the mixture into a wide, shallow ovenproof dish and top with the cherry tomato halves.
Bake for 35–40 minutes or until set.
Vindaloo – hot hot hot
This is far removed from the real deal but, if you like spicy curries, this is a super-easy weeknight supper. Vindaloo paste or powder is already hot but if you want even more fire, add red chillies as well. Just remember you can always add heat but once it’s in, you can’t take it out!
Serves 4
2 Tbsp neutral flavoured oil
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2.5-cm [1-in] piece of root ginger, finely chopped
1 large or 2 small aubergines [eggplants], cut into 2-cm [¾-in] cubes
2 Tbsp vindaloo curry powder or paste
1 red chilli, finely chopped (or more, if you can stand the heat)
400-g [14-oz] can chickpeas [garbanzo beans]
400-g [14-oz] can chopped tomatoes
1 Tbsp tomato purée [paste]
1 vegetable stock [bouillon] cube
To finish
4 Tbsp natural yogurt
fresh chopped coriander [cilantro]
Serving suggestion
rice
naan bread
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onions over a low heat for 5 minutes or until translucent.
Add the garlic, ginger and aubergine cubes and fry over a medium heat for about 10 minutes until the aubergine turns golden, stirring from time to time so the cubes don’t stick. Stir in the curry powder or paste and chilli and fry for another couple of minutes.
Drain and rinse the chickpeas and add to the pan with the chopped tomatoes and tomato purée. Dissolve the stock cube in 150ml [2/3 cup] hot water and add. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Divide the vindaloo between serving plates, top each with a tablespoon of natural yogurt and sprinkle over some chopped coriander.