I just waded through a blanket of smoke to get to my laptop so I could spread the word about tonight’s dinner. The smell of burnt sea salt is still lingering in the air. Sound appetizing? Well, let me tell you, it was!
I was a bit turned off by this Laura Calder recipe at first, simply because it involves cooking a fish over half an inch of coarse sea salt. In her book, French Food At Home, she advises to open a window. And how right she is. Unfortunately for me, and my nearby neighbours, I do not have a window in my tiny kitchen and the noxious odour and smoke coming from my apartment must have made them think I burnt dinner. As I watched the salt crackle and pop and burn, I prayed and hoped I was following the instructions correctly; lay the fish (I used rainbow trout), skin side down over half an inch of salt in a large pan over high heat for 15 to 20 minutes. After several minutes of watching over my sizzling fish, I stepped out into the living room and I was amazed the neighbours weren’t knocking on our door wondering if we were dying of smoke inhalation. I put aside my worries and focused on making the hollandaise sauce.
I remember making this sauce when I was younger, failing miserably and thus, afraid of trying again. I am excited and proud to announce that attempt number two was an amazing success thanks to Ms. Calder, who guided me through the emulsifying and whisking of butter and eggs. It’s a bit frightening that this sauce is made with two main ingredients; butter and egg yolks. When I put a cup and a half of butter into a sauce pan, Jay’s horrified reaction made me question whether or not this sauce was necessary for dinner. Adding four egg yolks made things seem slightly more disturbing. And let’s not forget the fact that the fish was resting on a bed of sea salt.
“Your doctor said your BMI is at a healthy level, right Jay?” I jokingly said as he glared at me.
Once the fish was cooked I peeled the skin off the fish as the book explains the skin is too salty to eat. I’m not even going to question that. I served the fish with steamed asparagus and plain basmati rice. I poured sauce over the asparagus and Jay and I sat down to eat. After giving our plates questionable stares, we dug in.
The fish was perfect. It was so soft and juicy and perfectly salty. The hollandaise sauce was very subtle, with hints of lemon among the buttery flavour (recipe for sauce here). Absolutely delicious.
[...] sauce because one recipe and instruction may work for one person but it may not for another. The first and only time I successfully made Hollandaise sauce I used Laura Calder’s recipe but when Jay tried it, he wasn’t as successful. Last [...]