The War On Cookbooks

The Front Line Food Diary (Dover Sole with kale, dauphinoise potato and fennel puree)

 

Dover Sole with kale, dauphinoise potato and fennel puree

Sticking with the kale again (not for any particularly scientific 

reason beyond the fact that you buy the stuff in such massive 

bags) but using another another of my favorite sea beasties.

This time served with some creamy thyme and garlic flavoured

potato dauphinoise and a little fennel puree. 

Dauphinoise Potato

Potato Dauphinoise is an easy and delicious addition to any 

meal. Traditionally just potato, cream and thyme and garlic.

Here I did it with the garlic and thyme cream but the 

method really allows for you to experiment with lots of 

flavour combinations. Simply done all you need is some finely 

sliced potato some seasoning and a cream or milk/cream

sauce to pour over the top. You could try tarragon or basil 

or in fact seeing as practically anything can be infused into 

milk and cream you could even infuse some leftovers from 

your sunday roast or some crispy bacon... or even some 

liquorish alsorts...well maybe not ?

To look at it another way, anything you can do with

a panna cotta or a veloute sauce you can essentially

flavour a this potato dish the same way, making it

a valuable tool in your cooking arsenal. All you need

is a little imagination or a little bit of stupid, whichever

comes more naturally.

To make, take your potato, peel, then finely slice. Next 

heat up your cream with whatever it is you want to infuse or

just mix the herbs in with your potato.

Here I added some chopped garlic and knob of butter and some 

finely chopped thyme. You can use this straight away or if your 

infusing then cover it and leave in the fridge over night (or

however long you patience allows you) to enhance the flavour. 

Pay special attention to seasoning your cream. It will reduce

a little when cooking so with gain in flavour but then again it

will be mixed with potato which needs heavy seasoning. Really

you just have to find your way with this bit. Go with your gut

adjust it up or down the next time you try it. For me I slightly

over season for my pallet and it seems to work.

Layer the potato in a greased mould and pour over the warm 

cream to soak though all the layers. Make sure you press it 

down so its firm. The cream should cover the top layer of 

spuds.

Add a little cheese of your choice if you wish and cook it

at a medium to high heat in the oven until you can easily

pierce through it with a knife.

Fennel Puree

This is easy peasy. All we need for any puree is to break down

the vegetable until it is soft enough to blitz in a mixer. You

could do this in boiling water or if you have the technology

you could cook it for a very long time at 75oC in a water bath.

The quickest and I think tastiest way is to roast your veg.

Simply place in a foil parcel (to protect it from direct heat)

in the oven with a little oil and salt at a medium to high

heat until it goes soft. 

You can throw some herbs into the parcel if you wish, I

added some star anise and some garlic to give it a boost.

Once soft you blitz in the blender. I added a little lemon

juice and then seasoned it up to taste.

Kale

The kale as before was simply fried very quickly

in a hot pan with a good dollop of butter and salt.

Dover Sole

Dover sole need little playing with. Simply fillet, remove the 

skin and cook. Get your fishmonger to do this if your unsure.

If you want to do it yourself it is pretty easy but you need

a very sharp and flexible knife.

It's more than likely unless you're a millionaire that your fillets

will be slightly on the small side. So you really want to be 

careful not to over cook them. Also seeing as the skin is 

removed you don't have the protection from direct heat whilst 

frying. This is I suppose where many recipes suggest poaching

or steaming.

To pan fry get your oil on a medium to high heat and place

your seasoned and lightly floured fillets down, pressing so as 

they don't curl to much. Throw in a lump of butter and fry 

and baste for about 1 or 2 minutes each side or as soon as you 

get a nice colour. 

If it takes much longer than 2 minutes your either moving the 

fish around too much or you need to whack up the heat.

Whatever you do don't over cook it. Remember this is a cold 

water fish that can't produce any bacteria though its life cycle, 

so its possibly safer to eat raw than most vegetables. 

Certainly safer than most of the tuna we eat raw. Undercook 

it rather than over cook it. But that crispy buttery outer-layer

is not to be missed, if you have the skills.

To finish the dish of I added some white wine to the pan after 

cooking the fish and deglazed all the tasty bits. Then I added 

a little lemon juice to this with a drop of water to help it 

emulsify, seasoned it up and poured a little over the fish.

 

The Front Line Food Diary (John Dory with tarragon mash, kale and a green sauce)

Pan Fried John Dory, tarragon mash, kale and a green sauce. 

Being my first food diary since I left my job in a fancy pants michelin starred place with foams and jellies and all that jazz, you would be forgiven for thinking that my style of food would have become more complex and extremely precise...well it hasn't. If anything I've found myself returning to the basics and finding my feet once again with comfort food. 

Once thing I did learn from my time at Pennyhill was the how great kale was. Quickly pan fried with butter and a good dose a salt and out of the pan in under a minute the irony, crunchy, buttery, richness is a supreme compliment to a whole heap of dishes. So given its seasonality I've done a couple you might like. 

Tarragon Mash.

I'm a big believer of not using roasted potatoes for making mash or chips. Cooking the potato in heavily sea salted water might yield less consistent results due to some over cooking than the roasting method and may prove more difficult when mixing with the butter and cream, but the pay of in depth of flavour having pre seasoned the potato at an early stage makes a massive difference to the end result. Seasoning soups, mash and sauces may well be essential at the end and for reduction sauces you need to be wary of over seasoning at the start as the salt will gain in strength, but a little kick start at the beginning of the process helps build flavour in any dish. 

So get your water sea salty and boil your cut potatoes from cold. Do try to get your potatoes into smallish squares and keep them all the same size so they cook at the same time. Keep an eye on them and drain them when the potato starts falling apart. 

Place equal parts of butter and cream in a pan and heat until the butter has melted. Do not boil.

While still fairly hot pass the potato though a metal sieve using a wooden spoon or similar implement into a warm pan. then quickly pour in the butter cream mixture until you have the desired consistency. Work fast at this and use a plastic spatula if you have one. 

Once mixed season to taste with salt and cayenne or black pepper and add the chopped tarragon just before serving.  

Pan fried John Dory

Have your fish at room temperature then scrape the skin dry using a knife at an angle like a squeegee and pat dry with some kitchen roll (this helps develop a crispy skin). Get your pan medium- high hot with a some groundnut oil (enough to cover the pan). Season your fish generously on the skin side and place in the oil holding it down flat so as not to curl. Add some butter and season the flesh side of the fish. Leave in the pan until the skin is brown and crispy. Turn the fish for 5 seconds and remove from the pan. 

Kale

Wash thoroughly, dry,cut the leaves from the central stem and roughly chop into strips. Get a pan nice and hot with a small amount of oil and throw in the kale with some room temperature butter. Toss in a good amount of salt and keep the kale moving in the butter until its warmed though. Remove straight away. You want the kale to be cooked but retain a bite to it. Keep tasting at you cook it will become obvious when its done. 

Green Sauce

Easy. Chop parsley, anchovies, capers and finely chop some garlic and lightly mix with a generous amount of olive oil. Add some pepper to taste and maybe some salt if you think it still needs it. You could also add other herbs and some cornichons if you feel the urge. 

Plate, eat and enjoy.