Poached Fish

If you like the simple flavors of fresh fish, poaching is an easy way to emphasize the taste of good fish. Poaching fish is more of a technique than a specific recipes with the seasonings of the poaching liquid changing with what is on hand and the fish changing depending on what's fresh at the fishmonger. Quickly, but gently, cooking the fish in a flavorful liquid is the key to preserving the fish's natural flavor resulting in a lightly seasoned, healthy meal that's the perfect excuse to open a nice bottle of white wine.

When talking about fish, the term poaching is used most often for fish cooked in a simmering liquid where the liquid is intended to be discarded. Braising or stewing is often used when the liquid is to be served with the fish.

The water used when poaching fish should be "high quality". If you don't drink your tap water, then don't use it for this recipe. Use water that you would be willing to drink (and, hopefully, prefer the taste of) for this recipe because those off flavors will present themselves in the final dish if you use funny tasting water. Also, we're not going to boil the fish - we're going to cook it in near boiling temperature water. Boiling will cause unnecessary violent currents through the cooking liquid which will end up tearing apart the fish into little pieces instead of gently cooking them through. The poaching liquid can be used repeatedly for multiple batches of fish or other foods you may want to poach in a flavorful liquid - just bring it back to a boil between uses. (Use the poaching liquid all in one session and then discard... please don't keep a pot of poaching liquid sitting on your stove waiting for the next poached fish meal.)

For this recipe, prepare the poaching liquid by filling a saute pan with enough water to measure a depth of about one inch (2.5 cm). Throw in a couple cloves of garlic, about 30 to 40 whole peppercorns, 4 sprigs of parsley, 1/2 cup dry white wine, and a bay leaf. Covering the saucepan, allow the mixture to come to a full boil and turn the heat down to low. We want to let the flavors of the spices infuse into the liquid, so let it sit on low for about twenty minutes. Feel free to use this time to prepare any side dishes you may want, like a rice pilaf.

I find that tilapia, red snapper, and bass seem to work well when poached. But it greatly depends on the individual: the flavors of catfish may be pleasant to many, but I can't stand it when poached. Each fish has it's own flavors, so I encourage trying them out (in a restaurant or when they go on sale) and figuring out what flavors agree with your palate. Poaching is a great way to prepare fish for tasting, because the flavor of the fish is not overwhelmed by sauces or marinades.

Bring the poaching liquid back up to a full rolling boil, then turn the heat back to the lowest setting. When the boil settles down, place the fillets into the liquid with a thin, flat, slotted spatula and cover for five minutes. (Filets thicker than 1 cm may need an additional minute or two.)

Remove the filets from the liquid and serve with some kosher salt sprinkled on top, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a few drained capers, and a couple slices of lemon on the side.

Poached Fish
Poaching liquid

Drinking water	pour in large pan until 1 in. (2.5 cm.) deep	add	bring to boil	reduce heat to low	simmer 20 min.
1/2 cup dry white wine
30-40 black peppercorns
2 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
4 parsley sprigs

Poached Tilapia (serves 4)

Poaching liquid	boil	reduce heat to low	cover & poach 5 min.	discard
8 3 oz. (85 g) tilapia filets				plate & garnish
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbs. (9 g) capers
1 lemon	cut into 8 wedges

Copyright 2005 Michael Chu 

Ratatouille

With Ratatouille (a new aanimated movie from Pixar) coming out in a couple weeks, I thought it would be fitting for me to present a recipe for Ratatouille (a dish from Provence). This is a wonderfully flavorful vegetable dish that can be served as either a side or as a main entree.

There are a variety of recipes for Ratatouille and the ingredients often change from cook to cook, but most contain eggplant (aubergine), garlic, onions, zucchini (Italian squash or marrows), and bell peppers. Usually the recipe is seasoned with Herbes de Provence, but (as in this recipe) it can be as simple as parsley and basil. Often the individual vegetable components are cooked separately in olive oil, but I like this recipe that cooks the vegetables together.

I adapted this recipe from the Culinary Institute of America's newest book - Vegetables: Recipes and Techniques from the World's Premier Culinary College (which I will review soon).

To begin, assemble the ingredients: 6 garlic cloves, 5 medium button or brown mushrooms (I prefer brown for more flavor), 1 medium zucchini, 5 sprigs of Italian parsley, 4 sprigs of basil, 1 medium onion, 1 can diced tomatoes (or 2 tomatoes peeled, seeded, and diced), chicken or vegetable stock (we'll need 3/4 cup or 180mL), 1 Tbs. tomato paste, 1 medium green bell pepper, and 1 large eggplant (about 1 pound or 450 g). Drain the canned tomatoes.

Wash and scrub all the vegetables. Remove the parsley and basil leaves from their stems. Dice the green bell pepper, eggplant, and onion. Quarter the zucchini lengthwise then slice into 1/4-in. (1/2 cm) segments. Quarter the mushrooms. Chop the parsley and the basil.

Start cooking by heating olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and saute until the garlic smell intensifies, about one minute.

Add the diced onion and continue to saute until they turn translucent, about 4 more minutes.

Once the onions are translucent, add 1 Tbs. tomato paste. The tomato paste will be in a clump and will take a bit of stirring and pressing to get it to spread out and cover the onions and garlic.

As you work at spreading the paste out and mixing it with the onions and garlic, the paste will cook and darken in color. Once some of the paste starts to stick to the pan and brown, it's time to add the stock (about one minute).

Pour in 3/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock and stir until the broth begins to simmer. Using your spatula or utensil, scrub the bottom of the pan to release any browned bits of garlic, onion, or tomato paste.

Add the diced eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, and mushrooms. Stir to combine thoroughly and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring every couple minutes to promote even heating.

The eggplant will release a lot of liquid (slowly) into the pot and it's in this liquid that you'll want to simmer the other ingredients in. To evenly cook all the ingredients, you'll have to stir it to make sure the vegetables spend time touching eggplant liquid. As a bonus, the flavors mix amazingly well during this process.

The eggplant will mostly be falling apart at this point, but the zucchini, bell peppers, and mushrooms should be tender but not yet mushy.

Add the diced tomatoes and stir in. After about a minute, the tomatoes will have heated through. Turn the heat down to the lowest setting.

Stir in the chopped parsley and basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Although ratatouille is usually served hot, we love eating this dish cold (usually at room temperature) with freshly toasted slices of a baguette especially during the summer.

Ratatouille (serves 4 to 6)

2 Tbs. olive oil		saute until aromatic over medium heat (1 min)	saute until translucent (4-5 min)	mix in and cook until color deepens (1 min)	deglaze pan	simmer, stirring often until vegetables are tender (10-12 min)	stir in and heat until warm (1 min)	stir in and take off heat	season to taste
6 cloves garlic	mince
1 medium (200 g)onion	dice
1 Tbs. (16 g)tomato paste
3/4 cup (180 mL)chicken or vegetable stock
1 large (450 g)eggplant	dice
1 medium (140 g)zucchini	quarter & slice
5 medium (100 g)brown mushrooms (cremini)	quarter
1 medium (150 g)green bell pepper	dice
14-1/2 oz. (411 g)can diced tomatoes	drain
5 sprigs Italian (flat-leaf) parsley	chop
4 sprigs Basil	chop
salt & pepper

Cream of Mushroom Soup

One of the recipes that I keep getting asked for is a Cream of Mushroom Soup that doesn't come out of a can. I worked on this one for a couple of weeks, trying various recipes, until I created this recipe that not only has the taste and consistency of the soup everyone (who's had Campbell's soup) is familiar with, but also a wonderful freshness and flavor that can only belong to a homemade soup.

Start by assembling the ingredients needed for the basic soup. You'll need about 1/3 cup (70 g) flour, 4 ounces (110 g) butter, 1 cup (235 mL) chicken broth or stock, 4 ounces (110 g) diced onions (about 1/2 large yellow onion), 2 oz. (55 g) celery, 2 oz. (55 g) leeks, 7 cups (1.65 L) whole milk (not pictured). You'll also need to have 12 to 16 ounces (340 to 450 g) button mushrooms, 1/4 teaspoon (0.4 g) dried, ground tarragon, 1/2 cup (120 mL) heavy cream, lemon juice, salt, and pepper for finishing the recipe.

Start by washing the leeks. Often, mud and dirt will get trapped in the layers of the leek, so special care should be taken to wash them thoroughly. The easiest way to do this is simply to break the leeks apart under running water and use your fingers to help wash the dirt away. The celery should also be rinsed and deveined.

Chop off the green tops, leaving the base of the leeks to make a total of about 2 ounces. Dice the leeks, celery, and onion. This combination of vegetables is often called a white mirepoix (while a "normal" mirepoix substituting carrots for the leeks).

Melt the butter in a 3-1/2 quart or larger pot over low heat.

Add the onions, celery, and leeks to the melted butter and turn the heat up to medium-low. Stir the white mirepoix as it sweats until the onions are translucent, about 6 minutes.

Add the flour to the mixture and continue to stir and cook over medium-low heat. Cook for about twelve minutes.

The flour mixture should have taken on a slightly yellowed appearance at this point.

While stirring, slowly pour the chicken broth into the pot. After all the broth has been incorporated into the flour mixture, keep stirring until there are no more lumps.

Now, slowly add milk to the pot. To keep from forming lumps, you'll want to pour a little milk at a time. Slowly pour about 1/2 cup milk into the pot and stir until it's been fully integrated into the flour. Repeat with 1/2 cup milk at a time until four cups of milk have been stirred in. At that point, it should be fine to pour in the last three cups of milk without lumps forming.

Bring the soup to a full boil, then simmer for 45 minutes (until smooth and thickened).

In the meantime, prepare the ingredients for the final part of the recipe: 12 to 16 ounces (340 to 450 g) button mushrooms, 1/4 teaspoon (0.4 g) dried, ground tarragon, and 1/2 cup (120 mL) heavy cream. Lemon juice, salt, and pepper will be used for seasoning as well.

Wash the mushrooms.

Cut all the mushrooms into a fine dice. It's important to get the mushrooms cubes to be as uniform as possible so they will cook evenly. It also makes the final soup more attractive.

Set the mushrooms aside as the soup simmers.

Once the soup has simmered for 45 minutes, it can be chilled and refrigerated to finish the soup at a later time (up to three days). When it is time to finish the recipe, just reheat the soup until simmering temperature and continue the recipe from here.

Add the 1/4 teaspoon tarragon to the soup and stir in.

Add all the diced mushrooms to the soup and stir until evenly mixed.

Simmer for 10 minutes.

Turn off the heat and stir in 1/2 cup heavy cream. Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste. For my ingredients, I found that 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon table salt, and 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper was just right.

Cream of Mushroom Soup (makes about 3 quarts, approx. 10 servings)

4 ounces (110 g) butter	melt	sweat 6 min.	stir in and cook 12 min.	gradually stir in	stir in 1/2 cup at a time until 4 cups	stir in rest of milk	bring to boil	simmer 45 min.	fold in, simmer 10 min.	stir in, remove from heat	season to taste
4 ounces (110 g) diced onions	wash and dice
2 oz. (55 g) celery
2 oz. (55 g) leeks
1/3 cup (70 g) flour
1 cup (235 mL) chicken broth or stock
7 cups (1.65 L) whole milk
12 to 16 ounces (340 to 450 g) button mushrooms	dice
1/4 teaspoon (0.4 g) dried, ground tarragon
1/2 cup (120 mL) heavy cream
lemon juice
salt
pepper