Fish Fillets Noord Zee
1hr
4
Introduction
Fish Fillets Noord Zee is one of the recipes Vincent demonstrates in the first episode of the 1971 British TV series, Cooking Price-Wise. This is a really fun dish to make as it involves putting mashed potato into a piping bag in order to make a series of ‘dykes’ which represent the sea walls in Holland. It’s a pretty bonkers recipe, but is definitely a crowd pleaser. In the cookbook Vincent says: ‘If you don’t feel like cooking fish…other foods can be placed between the potato walls – for instance, you can serve all your vegetables beautifully arranged on one large dish, or a mixture of meat and vegetables can be divided by the walls. Anyhow, the important thing is to use your imagination!’ Here’s the recipe to serve 4, but you can divide accordingly if making for less.
Steps
Step 1: Cook and mash the potatoes
Step 2: Poach the fish and reduce the liquid
Step 3: Sauté mushrooms, shrimps, herring roes and scallops in separate pans
Step 4: Press out mashed potato on a large serving plate, and create four compartments
Step 5: Add the fillets, and fill the compartments with remaining ingredients
Step 6: Make the sauce, pour over fillets and serve
How to make
Cook potatoes in salted water until very tender. Drain and mash. Beat in butter and enough hot cream to make fluffy potatoes that are still stiff enough to be pressed through a fluted pastry tube. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm over simmering water.
Poach the plaice in a cup of water, the white wine and lemon juice, with the salt and white pepper added for 5 minutes. Remove the fillets and keep warm. Boil liquid over high heat until reduced to 1/4 pint / 142ml.
Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in each of 4 small frying pans. In one sauté the mushrooms for 5 minutes. In another the shrimps for 5 minutes. In a third, toss the floured herring roes for 5 minutes. In the last, cook the scallops for 5 minutes.
Fill a forcing bag, fitted with a large fluted tube, with the mashed potatoes and press out a fluted ribbon down the centre of a large serving platter. On one side press out 3 ribbons from centre to edge of the platter, making 4 evenly divided compartments. Arrange the fillets on the other side in the long compartment. Put the platter into a warm oven to keep warm.
Sauce
In saucepan beat eggs with flour and cream. Strain the reduced fish liquid into the egg-cream mixture and cook, stirring rapidly until the sauce is hot and slightly thickened. Be careful not to let it boil. Stir in 1/2-teaspoon salt, or to taste, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice.
Pour sauce over the fish fillets only and garnish with parsley
Ingredients
4 medium potatoes
3 tablespoons butter
Small amount of cream
4 fillets of plaice
1/2 pint (284ml) dry white wine*
Juice of one lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
4 tablespoons butter
4oz (112g) button mushrooms
4oz (112g) shrimps
4oz (112g) herring roes, floured
4oz (112g) scallops
For the sauce:
2 eggs
1-tablespoon flour
1/2 / pint (284ml) cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Parsley to garnish