EPIGRAMS de SOLE

Epigrams de Sole

This is another favorite recipe of mine from Chef Michel Roux Jnr of the two-star Michelin restaurant Le Gavroche in London.  Chef Roux demonstrated this on the Master Chef UK series.  He said that it is such an intricate dish that his "Chefs hate it when it is on the menu at the restaurant."  Of course, I had to give it a try.  It is simply sole fillets stuffed with a lobster and tarragon mixture, then covered in a pane', and sautéed in plenty of butter and oil.  Not a dish for every day but once in a while a nice treat.  Chef Roux garnishes the dish with the lobster head and tail and adds baby carrots and baby turnips.  A very nice presentation.   Although my lobster head fell apart, everything else was perfect for the first time making it.  However, I did "cheat" and purchased fillets--not a whole fish.  As with several of Chef Roux's other dishes, this was fun and not as challenging as the show portrays.

For the Stuffed Sole:

2 Fillets of soul, about 3-4 ounce portions each
1 1-1/4 # lobster; cooked; lobster meat removed; shells reserved for sauce
1/2 cup fresh tarragon, chopped
1 cup AP flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup bread crumbs, unflavored
2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 oz unsalted butter

For the Sauce:

Reserved lobster body
1/2 cup chopped shallots
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/3 cup chopped celery
4 oz unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup Brandy
1/2 cup White Wine
1 Roma tomato chopped; about 4 ounces
1 cup fish stock



Lobster Stock

To Make the Sauce:
Add shallots, carrots and celery to pan.  Add lobster shells and butter. Break lobster shells while stirring.  Add bay leaf, garlic and tomato paste.  Stir to cook paste slightly for about one minute.  Add brandy then add and the white wine.  Let alcohol reduce for about 2-3 minutes.  Then add the fish stock.  Simmer until stock is intensified and reduced by half, about 35-40 minutes. When done, pass sauce into a sieve.  Set sauce aside.

To Make the Stuffed Sole:

For the Filling:
Mix the chopped lobster meat with the tarragon.  Set aside.



Lobster/Tarragon Mixture

For the Sole:
On a flat surface, score fillets with a knife.  Then pound between film (clear plastic wrap) concentrating on the thickest part of the fillets to make them uniform in thickness (sort of like pounding on a chicken breast to make it uniform).  Remove film.  Place lobster/tarragon mixture on the lower portion of the fillet and fold the top portion of fillet over.  Trim sides and bottom of fillets to form a "triangle".  (Set scraps aside for another use.)  Press on folded fillet (epigram) to seal.  Dip epigrams in flour, and then dredge in egg yolk mixture, then coat in the unflavored bread crumbs.  Chill in the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes so the epigram will seal and not fall apart during cooking.

To Finish:

Heat a sauté' pan with a combination of butter and oil mixture--not too hot.  Sauté' epigrams in pan and continue to spoon the mixture over fish while they are cooking.  When one side turns brown, turn epigrams over and continue to spoon the butter over the other side.  When epigrams turn golden, remove from pan and set on a plate lined with paper towels.  Let epigrams drain, then plate.

Add a dollop of the leftover lobster/tarragon mixture on top to garnish.  Serves 2.

 

 

Squid Stuffed With Wild Rice, or Calamars Farcis aux Riz Sauvage

This is my interpretation of Chef Michel Roux Jnr's Calamars Farcis aux Riz Sauvage, or Squid Stuffed with Wild Rice.  I've never made or eaten squid stuffed with rice--let alone a wild rice--so it was an interesting dish to try and replicate, sans written instructions.  The accompaniment is mussels that are first cooked in white wine, then shocked in an ice water bath and later warmed in butter, garlic and parsley.  Although it looked complicated on the BBC's Master Chef Professionals episode, it wasn't.  However, I did "cheat" and purchased squid bodies that were already cleaned by my fish monger.  I opted not to make the fried tentacles that were a part of Chef Roux's dish; but, nonetheless, it was very good and the flavours were prominent.. All in all...a very good dish and one that I would definitely recreate again...and again...and again.  Chef Roux Jnr would be proud.  I hope. 

For the Squid and Wild Rice Stuffing:
4 oz. white onions, chopped
6 oz. red pepper, chopped
pinch saffron threads, or 0.25 grams
4 oz wild rice
1 quart of lobster stock (32 Volume ounces), preferably home-made
2 egg yolks
3 squid bodies, cleaned

 

For the Mussels:
12-15 mussels, PEI of course
1 1/2 cups White Wine (I always use Mondavi Chardonnay)
1/2 quart lobster stock (or 16 Volume ounces)
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 Tablespoons sliced garlic
3 Tablespoons chopped parsley

For the Squid/Wild Rice Stuffing:
First, we make the wild rice--like a pilaf, according to Chef Roux.  Rinse the wild rice, then drain.  Take the chopped onions and red peppers and sweat them for about 5 minutes.  Add to this, the saffron, the rinsed wild rice and the lobster stock..  Let the mixture cook, covered, in the oven at 350 degrees.  Check every 1/2 hour. It does require at least 1 1/2 hours.  When the rice is done, remove from oven and add the egg yolks. Stir.  Now the stuffing is ready.

Fill the squid bodies with stuffing.  Then secure each with a bamboo or stainless steel toothpick. 

For the Mussels:
Steam mussels in the white wine with some garlic (about 1 Tablespoon). After mussels open, remove mussels from pan and purge them into an ice water bath to stop them from cooking.  When cool enough to handle, remove mussel meat from their shells.  Set aside. Add the lobster stock to the pan containing the broth that the mussels were steamed in.  This is now the mixture to steam the stuffed calamari.
To Finish:
For the calamari:  Add stuffed calamari to the mussel/lobster broth combination and let cook for about ten minutes, or until the calamari is soft and the egg in the stuffing mixture is cooked through.   After stuffed calamari is cooked, remove from pan and let rest for a few minutes (about 3-5); then slice the stuffed calamari into 1/2 inch thickness.

For the mussels:  Warm the melted butter, garlic and parsley mixture.  Add the mussel meat to this and warm through.  This is the added garnish to the dish.

To Plate:  Slice the cooked/stuffed calamari..  Add a dollop of mussel mixture and that's it.