fish fumet friday

fish FUMET, not fish fry on this friday night.

fumet = french word for broth made outta poisson; our gilled, scaled comrades from the aquatic environs. see example, right (do you see that head??)

today, the Chef went to the newly re-vamped Broadway Market and bought an entire Maryland Rockfish, head and all. He had it filet'd at the counter but took home all the bones and the head. Why the head? Because he wanted to get his money's worth! Nah, not entirely, he asked for the head because he had fumet on the brain (did you think i was going to say head again? <smiley face with a winky eye>). What else could finish off Chef's fumet, other than the fish head? Two of the great onions - shallot & leek, senor lemon, garlic, parsley, white wine, & carrots.

But that wasn't dinner tonight. No, we did not consume fumet with fish head. Instead the Chef cooked up those aforementioned filets as a 5 star tagaZ- rated highly recommended dish. oh my, yes, it was so good. So Good. Out came the saute pan: Chef chopped up some more leeks and sweated them in the olive oil & butter  (genius culinary combination), then he added some white wine and reduced; in went the fish & some fumet (fumet sans fish head). This cooked until the fish was done. Chef removed just the fish and then added (gasp) heavy cream to the sauce in the pan. In went frozen fava beans <<pause for a giggle from the scene from that movie with the guy in the mask in jail talking to the FBI girl; wow this would have been much better had i remembered the title of the movie>> But the flavor and uses of fava beans is really not a laughing matter, people! this is a great, versatile legume. <note period, not exclamation point>. And frozen instead of fresh because they are out of season. Back to that wine, i only had a little nib, if you were wondering; sit back, this is going to be a long entry tonight. that reminds me, Silence of the Liver. Back to that dinner...The fish with its dressing of leek and fava beans, was accompanied with sweet potatoes sauteed in Buerre noisette & parsley. If you use a foreign word for butter to describe your meal, you don't consume all the calories of said food, right?

Hoila!

This was really my first time eating rockfish. The chef bought a local, Chesapeake fishie - a notable species in this region of the U.S. of A.  Cooked, I found it to be flaky, and mild. And The Chef cooked it up perfectly; no sogginess, no fishiness. And if that heavy cream turned you off, it was just a small amount - not a gross, heavy creaminess you get from some cheap alfredo from a jar or chain restaurant. It was an uplifting, luxurious, and inspiring light cream sauce. Yes, that's right, I said inspiring!

And what else? Beet plate! As I mentioned yesterday, today was CSA day... Chef roasted those rooties and sliced and served them with goat cheese (he got this cheese today - for free - and straight- from-the-cheesemaker, that's a sweet hookup). And I got the honor of crumbling the cheese over the beets. I think it was an adequate proportion of beet to cheese, thank you. Dressed it up with a little radish, carrot, S&P, and O&V. Delish!

Turns out that wasn't the last I saw of Heavy Cream. You guessed it: Dessert! Chef started a-whipping up that cream mid-blog, and appeared with a bowl in hand. What is this? Homemade applesauce topped with cinnamon handwhipped-whip cream with a sprinkling of granola. Oh calories, how I love thee!  Well, it is very rare that I do get a dessert outta this guy :) And to conclude this evening, one last giggle...fava beans....Silence of the Lambs...