Fish & ShellfishLes Poissons et Coquillages

Scrub the mussels under cold running water, pulling away the wiry "beard" from the hinge of each. Discard any that stay open when tapped, and any with cracked shells (see the diagram above).

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat and soften the shallots and garlic for three minutes, without colouring.

Raise the heat, add the wine, and bring to a boil. Tip in the mussels, cover with a tight lid, and cook, shaking the pot occasionally, for four to five minutes.

Lift the mussels into warm bowls with a slotted spoon. Stir the parsley and a good grind of pepper into the pot liquid and pour it over.

Pat the trout completely dry, inside and out. Dust both sides and the cavity lightly with seasoned flour, shaking off the excess — a thick coat turns gummy, not crisp.

Heat the oil with half the butter in a pan large enough to hold both fish without crowding, until the foam from the butter subsides.

Lay the trout in and cook undisturbed, about four minutes a side depending on size, until the skin is deeply golden and the flesh at the backbone flakes easily.

Lift the fish to warm plates. Wipe the pan, add the remaining butter, and cook over medium heat, swirling constantly, until it turns a deep hazelnut brown and smells nutty, thirty to ninety seconds.

Immediately add the lemon juice — it will spit and foam, stopping the butter cooking further — then the parsley, and pour straight over the fish.

Ask the fishmonger to skin the dark (top) side, or do it yourself: nick the skin at the tail, grip it with a cloth for purchase, and pull it away towards the head in one motion. Leave the white underside skin on — it holds the fish together in the pan.

Pat dry and dust both sides lightly with seasoned flour, shaking off the excess.

Heat the oil with a third of the butter in a pan large enough for the fish to lie flat. Lay the sole in dark-side down first and cook undisturbed, four to five minutes, until golden, then turn carefully with a wide spatula.

Cook the second side three to four minutes more.

Lift the sole to warm plates. Wipe the pan, melt the remaining butter over medium heat, swirling, until deep hazelnut brown, then add the lemon juice at once to arrest it.

Scatter with parsley and pour the butter over the fish immediately, while it is still foaming.

Combine the wine, water, vinegar, carrot, onion, herbs, peppercorns, coriander seeds and salt in a wide saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook ten minutes to soften the vegetables and infuse the liquid.

Lay the mackerel fillets flat in the pan, skin side up, in a single layer — use two pans or cook in batches if needed. Bring back to the barest simmer.

Poach gently for three to four minutes, until the flesh just turns opaque and flakes at a light touch. Do not let the liquid boil, or the fillets will break apart.

Lift the fillets carefully into a shallow dish and pour the hot liquid, vegetables and all, over the top.

Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate at least four hours, ideally overnight, before serving cold or at cool room temperature with some of the pickled vegetables spooned alongside.

Heat the oven to 200°C. Cut two large squares of baking parchment, roughly 40 cm across.

Lay a bed of courgette and tomato slices in the centre of each square, slightly larger than the fish itself. Season lightly, then set a fillet on top, skin side up.

Scatter over the lemon slices, thyme, a drizzle of olive oil, a splash of wine, and salt and pepper.

Bring the two opposite edges of the parchment up over the fish and fold together in a series of tight overlapping folds, working along the seam, then twist the ends closed like a sweet wrapper so the parcel is fully sealed and holds its own steam.

Bake for 12–14 minutes for a 2 cm fillet, using the thickness table above as a guide for other sizes.

Transfer the sealed parcels straight to plates and let diners open their own — the burst of steam and aroma is part of the dish.

Combine the shallots, vinegar and wine in a small saucepan. Simmer until reduced to about two tablespoons of thick, syrupy liquid, eight to ten minutes.

If using, stir in the cream and bring back to a bare simmer — this gives the sauce a wider margin for error and a slightly rounder finish, at a small cost to purity.

Set the pan over the lowest possible heat. Whisk in the cold butter two or three cubes at a time, letting each addition melt into a thick, glossy emulsion before adding more, never letting the sauce approach a simmer.

Season and keep warm off the heat, over a pan of warm — not hot — water, while you steam the fish; it will not hold longer than about twenty minutes before it starts to separate.

Bring 4 cm of water to a simmer in a pot. Set a metal sieve or colander over the top without touching the water, lay the cod in it, season, and cover with a lid or foil.

Steam 8–9 minutes for a 2.5 cm fillet, using the thickness table above for other sizes, until it flakes cleanly at the thickest point.

Plate the cod and spoon the beurre blanc over and around, not on top of, the fish, so the pale sauce and white flesh sit as a single dish.

Pat the scallops completely dry with a cloth — any surface moisture will steam rather than sear them — and season just before cooking.

Heat a heavy pan until very hot, almost smoking, and add half the oil. Lay the scallops in without crowding, leaving space around each.

Sear undisturbed for 60–90 seconds, until a deep golden crust forms on the base, then turn and sear the second side for 45–60 seconds. Lift out at once — they continue cooking briefly from residual heat.

Wipe the pan, add the remaining oil, and soften the garlic for thirty seconds without colouring. Add the tomato and cook briskly for two minutes until just softened, not collapsed.

Off the heat, stir in the butter, herbs and lemon juice. Season, spoon over the scallops, and serve at once.

Heat the oven to 180°C. Butter a wide, shallow ovenproof dish and scatter the shallots and mushrooms over the base.

Fold each sole fillet gently in half, skinned side inward, and lay them over the mushrooms. Pour in the stock and wine — it should come roughly halfway up the fish.

Cover with buttered parchment, pressed down onto the fish, and bake for 12–15 minutes, until the fish flakes easily and looks opaque.

Carefully pour the poaching liquid into a saucepan, keeping the fish and mushrooms warm in the covered dish. Simmer the liquid hard until reduced by about half, eight minutes.

In a separate small pan, melt the butter and stir in the flour to make a pale roux; cook two minutes without colouring. Off the heat, whisk in the reduced poaching liquid gradually until smooth, then return to the heat and simmer, whisking, until it coats a spoon, five minutes.

Stir in the cream and simmer a further two minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning — the stock and wine already carry salt.

Pour the sauce back over the fish and mushrooms, scatter with parsley, and serve directly from the dish, or flash briefly under a hot grill to glaze the top if you like colour on the sauce.

Make the panade first: bring the water and butter to a boil in a saucepan. Off the heat, tip in the flour all at once and beat hard with a wooden spoon until it forms a smooth ball that pulls cleanly from the sides of the pan.

Return to low heat and beat for a minute to dry it slightly, then transfer to a bowl and beat in the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next — this is exactly the choux paste method. Cool completely; it must be cold before the fish is added.

Chop the fish as finely as possible: cut into small pieces, then use the rock-chop motion (see Knife Skills) continuously for eight to ten minutes, gathering and re-chopping, until it is closer to a paste than a mince. This is the single most laborious step and there is no shortcut with a knife alone; a food processor does it in seconds if you have one, but is not required.

Push the chopped fish through a sieve with the back of a wooden spoon into a bowl set over ice, to remove the last sinew and lighten the texture. Work it against the mesh in small batches — this takes patience but is what gives a quenelle its characteristic fineness.

Beat the sieved fish into the cold panade until fully combined, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, then beat in the chilled cream gradually, a little at a time, until the mixture is smooth, pale and holds together softly. Chill at least 30 minutes — a warm mixture will not hold its shape.

Bring a wide pot of well-salted water to the gentlest simmer, well below a boil. Using two dessertspoons dipped in warm water, shape the mixture into ovals, passing it from spoon to spoon, and slide each gently into the water.

Poach in batches, without crowding, for 12–15 minutes, turning once halfway, until they have roughly doubled in size and feel firm but light when pressed.

Lift out with a slotted spoon, drain briefly on a cloth, and serve at once with a beurre blanc or the mushroom sauce from Sole Bonne Femme, above.

Heat half the olive oil in a large pot and sweat the onion, fennel and leek for eight minutes until soft but not coloured. Add the garlic for a final minute.

Add the fish bones and heads, tomatoes, orange peel, saffron and bouquet garni. Cover generously with cold water — about 2 litres — and bring to a boil, then reduce to a lively simmer for 30–40 minutes.

Crush the contents against the side of the pot with the back of a wooden spoon to release more flavour from the bones, then strain firmly through a sieve into a clean pot, pressing hard to extract every drop. Discard the solids. This is the base broth.

While the broth simmers, make the rouille: mash the boiled potato smooth, then whisk in the egg yolk, crushed garlic, saffron and a pinch of cayenne. Whisking constantly, add the olive oil in a very thin stream, exactly as for a mayonnaise, until thick and glossy. Season with salt.

Return the strained broth to a simmer and add the Pernod if using. Add the firmest, longest-cooking fish first — monkfish or gurnard chunks — and poach for three minutes.

Add the remaining fish and shellfish — red mullet, mussels, prawns — and simmer gently for a further four to five minutes, until the mussels have opened and the fish flakes easily.

Ladle the broth into bowls first, with toasted bread spread thickly with rouille floated on top, in the traditional two-course style — then serve the fish and shellfish separately or together, with more rouille alongside.