Fillet O' Fish

I'm not talking about the one you can get at McDonald's.

Last night, we started working with some real protein - Fish! From now on, we will be making 2 complete dished per night that include the protein, vegetables, sauces, garnishes, and in some cases a starch. This also means that our family meals will be scaled down, as we are expected to eat what we make for dinner.

Yesterdays dishes were a poisson "en papillote" and "a la grenobloise". The papillote is a method where the fish is cooked in sealed parchment paper with it's garnishes. A little white wine is added - when the wine cooks in the oven, the steam it gives off will make the parchment puff up. For service, the dish is served to the customer in that way and then opened at the table to release the aromas. The tricky part to this dish is learning the timing, since you can't see the fish to check to see if it is done before serving.

Before I get into the dishes, I would like to share that I filleted my very first fish last night! I was definitely apprehensive, yet quite surprised that this did not send me running to the nearest trash can to get sick! My partner handled the trout, and I the sea bass. I immediately named my guy Sammy the sea bass. Poor little Sammy, I bet he had no idea what life had in store for him. The fish was already gutted, but still had the gills which I had to remove. Then I was off to fillet him, skin him, and prep him for the first dish of the evening. Below are a couple pics. I could not take too many because my hands were often gross and slimy and my camera asked to not get involved. While my fist attempt at this was definitely not a smooth cut, the chef overall was pleased with us since many of us had never done anything like this before.

Smiling Sammy:



Sammy fillet:



"Sammy" en Papillote:







Trout a la Grenobloise:



(I know, totally unappetizing. I cooked it too long and burned the skin. Should be nice and crisp):



It was a fun night. Monday we will be doing more fish dishes before moving onto shellfish. One final note about last nights class - I ended up providing the class with a nice fire demonstration. The sauce on the trout is a brown butter sauce, which at the end you add citrus juices and fruit. When my partner poured the citrus in the entire pan went up in flames about three feet high. I was surprised I did not panic. I just moved the pan off the flame and it started to come down a little and then I heard our Chef's assistant say to him "she's OK". Those words totally put me at ease, and slowly the flame went out. Chef said the flavoring of our sauce was really good. I attribute that to my flambe ;-)