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January 17, 2010

Vermouth Sauce


Pacific cod caught by trawl or Atlantic cod



Pacific cod caught by longline


Well, it might sound strange or funny, but I started to think about this dish somewhen in December last year. Yesterday, I had it ready in my head, so it was time to cook it finally. The basic idea was to serve zander with parsley root puree in white and in green among some beet and some kind of sauce. The whole dish just didn't feel right, so I put it back on a shelf and let it ripe. The last time I had cod in my kitchen was somewhen in spring last year. I do not want to write again about the overfishing problem, but just this Saturday in a supermarket I saw high mountains of canned tuna for a special price...and that made me sad and angry and I keep on asking why do they still sell?! In many of these shops you can see advertisements that they do care about the overfishing problem and they sell MSC. That is good, well, better than nothing, but then why do they offer at the same time canned and fresh tuna (not the mention the rest). At least they are on the way...hopefully not yet too late!!! I know, I know as long as people buy - the shops will sell, at least until the last fish was caught. Anyway, now back to dish, that post should actually be about. So after having a smaller fight with myself, I bought a piece of MSC cod. I through away the parsley puree, instead I prepared potato puree with a macadamia nut pesto with parsley and lemon oil. As far as the beet is concerned I simply wrapped it in foil together with salt, olive oil and bay leaf and baked it. I caramelised some shallot with some cane sugar and cooked a it with orange juice and beet juice to a sauce, sieved and cooked the baked and chopped beet in it with a tiny touch of star anise. I wanted to keep the fish simple, so I flavoured it with some curry and fried. Of course there was something missing, yes the sauce. I decided for a vermouth sauce, simple and perfect with fish.


Ingredients:
1 shallot
1 sprig thyme
1 bay leaf

100 ml vermouth
300 ml fish stock
3 tablespoon double cream
salt, pepper



In a saucepan reduce vermouth by 1/3 together with the chopped shallot, thyme and bay leaf.
Add fish stock and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. After add cream and cook until it is thick enough. Sieve, season and serve.

5 comments:

Houdini said...

It looks fantastic, as usual.
Does macadamia nut pesto mean you use macademia in place of pine nuts, but all the rest is the same, i.e. basil, garlic, olive oil, parmiggiano?
And if so, can you keep it in closed glas jars for a long time?

chriesi said...

Thank you! Well, in this case I didn't use garlic and parmiggiano, because I was afraid the cheese might not go well with the fish. Ah and instead basil I used parsley. Basically,I think you can prepare and keep it like the basil pesto.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

A gorgeous sauce! So tasty!

Cheers,

Rosa

Marysol said...

The macadamia nut pesto with potato purée sounds like a mighty win!

And the contrasting colors makes me want to 'dive' right into the dish, if it weren't so darn pretty.

Chriesi, I often use a light Vermouth sauce with mild tasting fish. But I was curious about your red sauce, until I read further (I tend to look at the pictures first :)
Anyway, I never would've thought to use beet juice. How creatively delicious it looks!

chriesi said...

With me it is the same, first the picture, then the rest. :) Besides your photos are always so dreamy, that I easily get lost!

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