Truite au riesling

Wed 10 February:

Hello, how are you? Today was great, I made a canon of trout with a parmesan crust, pommes fondantes, a watercress cream, sauteed mushrooms, cumin tuiles and a riesling and fish fumet beurre blanc. It was great.

I started by taking a the trout, I decapitated it, de-tailed it and boned it through the stomach. This is harder than it looks, and I cant really explain it, so tough luck. I then placed them in the fridge and made my crust. I mixed some butter, parmesan and breadcrumbs, rolled out, and froze. I then blended some blanched watercress with some cream and eggs, I put it in some moulds and in the oven for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, I fried some shallots in riesling, spread it on the trout (which was flat like a big fillet) and rolled it up in some clingfilm. I proceeded to made my pommes fondantes. I cut them into discs, put them in a skillet, added some butter and fumet and cooked for 20 minutes. Next, I sliced some puff pastry into strips, covered it with cumin seeds and put it in the oven. Then, I steamed the trout in my new bamboo steamer (that I got for my birthday) that I’ve never used believe it or not. While they steamed, I made my sauce. I fried some shallots with some riesling, added some fumet, reduced to a syrup, added some cream, brought to the boil. Finally I put the crust on the fish, the fish under the grill, a lot of butter in the sauce and plated up. I realise that I forgot the mushrooms, I turned them and sautéed them. It was really nice, trout isn’t my favourite fish by a long shot, but it was lovely. I also have no idea how the crust even worked, I’ve tried stuff like that and it never works! The cumin seeds are inspired, you’re eating a fully french dish and then all of a sudden you get a burst of cumin.

That was nice, I’m so so glad to have left Julia behind, this is such a higher level. Well, I have to go, I’ll see you next time? Maybe not, but whatever happens, bye!