Crab- and Brie-Stuffed Flounder with Lemon Buerre Blanc Sauce (Also, Cooking School #2!)

This was the menu that we (sort of) prepared at my second Central Market Cooking School class, Seafood 101. We actually just learned how to make the sauce and more importantly, scale and filet the fish. The rest was lagniappe that they had prepared ahead of time. Additionally, we learned how to choose a good fish in the grocery store. Great class, and incredible food served!

(That's the stuffed flounder in the top left part. The other is Trout Amandine with Celery Root Puree and Brown Butter, which I'll try cooking some other time.)

This is the fanciest dinner I have made, as it was accompanied by seared scallops wrapped in prosciutto in a spinach puree, topped with a leek emulsion sauce. I can't believe I made all that, but the stuffed flounder part was so easy.

Prosciutto-wrapped seared scallop appetizer before...

...and after about thirty seconds.

The spinach and leek sauces were ok, but I won't go to that trouble again, as the scallops would have probably been even better if served with the lemon buerre blanc sauce. So, lesson learned, and time and expense saved in the future.

For two servings, you will need two long fish fillets. It doesn't have to be flounder--this recipe originally recommended dover sole, but ask the person at the fish counter what they'd recommend for this purpose.


So, you will need:

• 1/4 cup lump crab, picked over for shell
• 1/8 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 lb. of Brie cheese
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
• 1/2 Tbsp. dill
• 1/2 tsp. Italian parsley, chopped
• salt, pepper, and paprika (optional) to taste
• 2 white fish fillets
  

Season the fillets with salt and pepper. (Remove the skin first if you didn't already have that done for you at the store.) Mix up all the remaining ingredients except the crab meat, which you will add last after the rest tastes properly seasoned. Spoon half on to each fillet, and fold the ends in. Place it in a baking dish and sprinkle paprika over the top. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. Easy.


Lemon buerre blanc sauce (street name: crack!):
This is enough sauce not only for the fish, but for your accompanying vegetables/scallops/bread/whatever. Half the recipe if you'd like.

• 1 large (or 2 small) shallots, minced
• 1 cup of dry white wine
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 6 tbsp. white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp. Italian parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 pound (that's 2 sticks!) butter, unsalted, cubed, and cold
• salt and pepper to taste

(Obviously this is not an every day food because it's a calorie-fest, but how often are you making stuffed flounder? Not very often. Unfortunately, it is really delicious.)

In a small saucepot, combine wine, vinegar, shallot, and juice, and boil. Boil until it's reduced to about 1/4 cup of liquid. Then add the heavy cream and cook to reduce it by half.

Reduce the heat to medium, and then whisk in only one cube of butter at a time. Once half of the cubes are melted in, you can add them 2-3 at a time, melting them completely before adding more, until it's all used.

Season with salt, pepper, and parsley.


And by the way, the seared scallops:
Take 4 large (U10 size) sea scallops and season with salt and pepper. Get some oil (olive, grapeseed) HOT in the pan, then sear the scallops by placing them in the oil and LEAVING THEM ALONE! If you move them you will not get a good sear. You can tell that the edges are browning well when they're ready to flip.

Then take a slice of prosciutto and cut it lengthwise to wrap around one scallop. (So 2 slices of prosciutto for 4 scallops). Place on a baking sheet under the broiler until the prosciutto is crisp and browned. Top with buerre blanc sauce!


And to serve with it:
Thin, lightly sauteed asparagus, broccolini, green beans... something light, plain, and probably green. This is a heavy meal! You will not want anything starchy or creamy on the side of your plate.

Central Market Cooking Class #1: Sauces 101

This post is very belated--I took two of these classes over the summer, and one last month. Nevertheless, I wanted to write about them and encourage you to try them sometime! You will leave full of food, wine, and flavored teas, and learn a lot.

I decided to start with the 101 series because I assumed (correctly) that although I'm not an absolute beginner, I am mostly self-taught and therefore I do things my way, not necessarily the right way.

There seems to be some debate out there over which are the official Mother Sauces. According to Central Market Cooking School, there are five of them: béchamel, velouté, hollandaise, espagnole, and vinaigrette. (I think that last one was their own executive decision, as I'm finding that tomato is generally considered to be the fifth.) The sauces in a nutshell:

• Béchamel is a creamy flour, butter, and milk sauce. We formed a light roux from the first two ingredients, then added the milk, and finally cheese, to make...mac and cheese. Very fancy!
  
  
• Velouté is very similar, as it is also made from a light roux, but instead of being thinned with milk, you can use chicken, beef, fish, or other stock.
  
  
• Hollandaise was the trickiest sauce to make, because you have to make a double boiler of a metal bowl suspended over a saucepan of boiling water, and then manage to cook the egg yolks without scrambling them. This sauce is egg yolks, melted butter, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Simple, but not really.
  
  
• Espagnole takes so long to cook that we didn't do it in class. The instructor served us some over a chicken thigh, and it was outstanding. This sauce is composed of a darker roux, vegetables, herbs and spices, tomato paste, and some type of meat stock. I guess it's the kind of thing that you'd want to make in bulk, and then freeze.
  
  
• Vinaigrette is just oil, your choice of vinegar, herbs, and spices, of course.

Classes are offered nearly every day and are about $60 for a hands-on class (and you get a meal out of it, too). They're about 3 hours long and are generally in the evening.

The other classes I've taken are Seafood 101 and Knife Skills 101. More to come!