I have written about monkfish once before on this blog, but the dish I attempted this time was on a whole other level of sophistication and difficulty. Terrines have long been the bane of many a chef, but ever since I read The Soul of a Chef (where chefs agonize over the terrine portion of a test), I have been tempted to try my hand at them. This particular terrine was a monkfish terrine that I got out of a Catalan cookbook, Catalan Cuisine: . When I glanced at the ingredients and description, my mind and mouth were filled with flavors in expectation of what might someday transpire. However, you can be the best judge of that.
Pastis Calent de Rap amb Mussokinad'All
2 pounds monkfish
butter
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
salt and white pepper
1 small or 1/2 medium tomatoe, seeded and grated or pealed, seeded, and chopped (about1/4 cup)
5 eggs
2 cups mussolina d/all
Mussolinad/All (2 cups)
to make 1 and1/4 cups
12clovesgarlic
1/2 tsp.salt
2 egg yolks
1cup mild extra virgin olive oil
"Spanish fish terrines, often called pastels (pastisos in Catalan) tend to be clogged up with bread crumbs and dry as the dickens. This one is moist, eggy, and delicate. The recipe comes from Jaume Subiros at the Hotel Ampurdan, and makes good use of the mild garlic sauce mussolina d'all, so favored by his late father-in-law, Josep Mercader.
Garlic Mousseline mussolina d'all refined if not invented by Josep Mercader at the Hotel Ampurdan, is in effect an allioli made with roasted garlic which makes it milder and sweeter than the conventional version. ‘It has the flavor of garlic, but is easier on the stomach,’ notes Mercader's son in law and successor, Jaume Subiros (AuthorJesep Pla: ‘Garlic is the Genghis Khan of Catalan Cuisine.’) The Hotel Ampurdan, in fact, usually makes this sauce with alla tendre, green garlic, (ie the scallion like shoots of the young garlic plant) which is available in some specialty markets, and can of course be grown in the home garden but ordinary garlic works just as well."
From reading this, I thought that I would be making an innovative, but tried-and-true authentic Spanish dish. I have loved other recipes from this book, but this was the first terrine I had tried to make. The only part I was confident about was the garlic mousseline, since I had made many alliolis from here and every single one has been fantastic.
A terrine is pretty much a fancy cold meatloaf. It is made by cooking the product in a bain-marie (a pan inside a larger pan that has a hot water bath prepared) to make sure that the meat is cooked evenly and no browning occurs. If it does brown, there is a major problem. It will be impossible for the jelly to form on top that happens after cooling, making the end result just an ordinary casserole. What I found out later was that cooking a terrine in an oven instead of a bain-marie just makes it a casserole that can never achieve terrine status. Pâté is one of the most common terrines, though there are infinite varieties of terrines around.
I started by cooking the monkfish in the oven for an hour at 350 degrees to dry it out so it could be easily shredded with a fork.
To this, I added some egg, cream, thyme, salt, and pepper. This completed the forcemeat mixture for the terrine.
Because I didn’t have a proper loaf pan, the layering was a bit tricky. I buttered the only 2 quart pan I had and began. The first layer was the monkfish mixture, which I topped with some of the remaining eggs that I had beaten. On top of that, through the middle, I placed some tomatoes that I had previously peeled and chopped. The last two layers repeated the first in that the monkfish mixture went on top, followed by the last of the egg mixture. After smoothing off the surface with a spatula, I put everything in the oven for 45 minutes at 400 degrees. This was my mistake, since the directions said to put the terrine in a bain-marie.
To make the garlic mousseline, I roasted the garlic for 30 minutes at 350 degrees in the oven before throwing the cloves in the food processor with the egg yolks and olive oil. Had the terrine come out right, I would have finished the recipe by smothering the terrine in the mousseline and baking until the terrine slightly browned and the sauce puffed up a bit from the eggs. This was an allioli with the only notable difference being that the garlic was roasted. Allioli tastes a bit like mayonnaise, which makes sense since it was an earlier form of it. In this sauce, the roasted flavor of the garlic came out and the sauce was rich and creamy. I think it would work very well with poached eggs, so I need to try that sometime soon.
I took the finished product out of the oven, divided it, place some of the roasted garlic mousseline next to the dish, and paired it with a salad.
Because of the fact that I did not have a proper loaf pan lying around, the shape of the dish was odd and much of the layering lost its effect. Maybe it would have looked like and tasted more like a terrine had it had a proper vessel. However, the taste was phenomenal. It was crisp on the outside and smooth, tender, and juicy on the inside. Monkfish flavor was present throughout the experience, though by all means, it did not taste fishy. The egg gave it a nice volume and fluffiness that unfortunately detracted from the stars of the show, but it also added a souflee-like flavor. When mixed with the aioli, the dish became even better. Some of the intensity of the dish was curbed by the fat. It was very similar to a souflee in this regard as well. When the desert arrives at your table, the waiter pokes a hole in the top and throws in a dollop of ice cream to balance the flavor of the souflee. The roasted garlic flavors and creamy texture mellowed out the egg and fish while also giving them a sauce which complemented very well.
The monkfish terrine tasted great, but it was a far cry from what I expected. I wanted a cold, round, homogenous product similar to pâté. What I got was a glorified casserole. It was by no means spreadable and had I tried to spread it, the result would have been separated chunks of egg and fish. The layering was unnecessary, but that was the fault of my pan. It tasted great, but to get that terrine texture, one cannot skip the bain-marie step or else it comes out the way mine did. Though it tasted great, it just wasn’t what I, or anyone else, would look for in a terrine. There is no doubt in my mind that I will attempt to make a terrine again, next time with better equipment. So try this dish if you want a challenge and if your results bear fruit, I would like to see a picture to see if this recipe has potential, since I have had great experiences with other recipes in the book.
You can also read this post here: http://cornellsun.com/node/38780
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