In honor of Le Bernardin reopening, I've decided to make a recipe from On The Line, Eric Ripert's cookbook about the day-to-day operations of Le Bernardin. If you're a food obsessed like me, or at all interested in the inner workings of a fine dining mecca, I highly recommend this book. It's filled with really interesting insight into how dishes are created and ultimately put together during service. The photography is brilliant as well, and of course, you get 50 or so Le Bernardin recipes that cover the spectrum of courses - from appetizer to dessert. Go pick it up.
I settled on this particular recipe because of the use of corn juice, making this part three, and the final corn recipe (I think), of the season. Here, the corn juice is slightly reduced and emulsified with butter to create a luxurious purée. I used yellow corn this time (as you can see in the above photo), as I couldn't find any white corn at the market. There was no dip in quality, however, from the white corn - the purée was sweet and extremely flavorful. In retrospect, I think the yellow corn worked a little better here, as it provided some needed color to the plate that the white corn would have lacked.
from On The Line, by Eric Ripert
Serves 4
The Sweet Corn Purée
2 cups fresh corn kernels
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Fine sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
The Shishito Peppers
8 shishito peppers
1 tablespoon olive oil
Fine sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
The Mole Sauce
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon thinly sliced garlic
1 tablespoon thinly sliced shallot
1½ cups Veal Jus, reduced to ¾ cup
½ cup red wine, reduced to 2 tablespoons
5 ounces shrimp stock, reduced to 5 tablespoons
1½ teaspoons guajillo chile puree
1 teaspoon ancho chile puree
1 teaspoon melted dark chocolate
1 teaspoon almond flour
The Striped Bass
Canola oil
Four 6-ounce striped bass fillets
Fine sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
Wondra flour
The Garnish
1 tablespoon smoked bonito flakes
½ teaspoon Maldon sea salt
For the corn purée, corn juice is made just as it was made before - 2 cups of corn kernels are cut from the cob (about 2 ears), puréed in a blender and strained through a fine-mesh sieve, discarding the solids. The corn juice is then brought to a simmer over medium-low heat until thickened, then the butter is whisked in along with salt and white pepper. The mixture is then strained a final time to remove any lumps or impurities.
Shishito peppers, for those not familiar, are Japanese peppers (although the ones that I purchased were grown in Mexico) that are about 4 inches long and green in color. They are very thin-skinned, sweet in flavor, and not too spicy. Although, apparently one out of ten peppers is hotter than the others. The eight that I purchased all seemed to be about the same heat index, so I guess I didn't hit the spicy lottery.
The shishito peppers are simply charred under a broiler, placed in a bowl and covered with cling wrap and left to steam. Once the peppers are cool enough to handle, the charred skin is peeled away and the peppers are stemmed and the seeds removed.
Next, the mole sauce. I must admit - I am not that big of a mole fan. The few that I've tried have all shared the same trait - the flavor is just overwhelming, but not in a good way. I always found them too bitter, the flavor just too complicated. Which is to be expected, I suppose, since the typical mole recipe involves a list of ingredients that reads like an encyclopedia of chiles, spices and herbs, and often involves techniques wherein pepper seeds are burnt until charcoal black. At first I figured I just had some less than stellar mole, but after trying it at Rick Bayless' Topolobampo and not really enjoying it, I figured it just wasn't for me. (It should be noted, however, that the rest of the meal, and the service was top notch.)
But this mole sauce by Eric Ripert is spectacular. Although, to be fair, it's not really a mole. Any bitter notes in this sauce are mild, if at all existent. It's more of a Frenchman's fine dining take on a mole. But whoa boy, does it work.
First, I did not make my own veal jus. I cheated and bought veal demi-glace. Made 1½ cups worth per the instructions on the box and reduced it to ¾ cup, as the recipe instructed. Although, I probably should have just used half the amount of water in the first place, and not worried about the reduction. Silly me.
I did, however, make my own shrimp stock. Here's the recipe.
Shrimp Stock
from On The Line, by Eric Ripert
1½ teaspoons canola oil
1 pound small shrimp (41-50)
¼ cup medium diced onion
2 tablespoons medium-diced carrot
2 tablespoons medium-diced celery
6 tablespoons tomato paste
5 cups cold water
Sear the shrimp over medium high heat in the canola oil for about 2 minutes, until they turn bright orange. Add the vegetables and cook until they soften, roughly 5 minutes more. Reduce the heat to medium, then add tomato paste. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, adjusting the heat as necessary to avoid burning. Add the water, bring it to a boil, and remove it from the heat. Process the stock in a food processor until the shrimp is coarsely chopped. Return the mixture to the heat, bring it to a simmer, remove it from the heat, and then let it sit for 10 minutes. Strain the stock though a colander and then a fine-mesh sieve.
I also made the chile purées myself. I bought whole dried chiles from the market, heated them briefly in a hot skillet, removed the stems and seeds, and then soaked them for about 20 minutes, or until hydrated and soft, in hot tap water. I then drained them, and puréed them in a food processor, adding water as necessary for the mixture to come together into a paste.
Guajillo chile purée
Ancho chile purée
From the top left: Reduced shrimp stock, charred and peeled Shishito peppers, almond flour & chocolate, red wine reduction, chile pastes, reduced veal stock.
To create the mole sauce, garlic and shallot are sweated over medium heat until softened. The reduced veal jus is added and simmered for 5 minutes. Then, the reduced shrimp stock and reduced red wine are added, and simmered for 5 minutes more. The chiles are added, along with the chocolate and almond flour and the mixture is removed from the heat and let stand for 2 minutes. The sauce is then passed through a fine-mesh sieve.
Little tip regarding the red wine. I keep a container in my freezer dedicated to red wine. Anytime I don't finish a bottle, I just pour the remainder into the container. This way I always have red wine to cook with - it saves me from having to buy a bottle just for cooking. It keeps indefinitely, so long as it is replenished every now and then.
I'm a big fan of striped bass, and fortunately Central Market had just received a fresh shipment of it the day I shopped. Eric Ripert recommends removing the skin, citing "a lot of blood between the skin and fillet, which is very fishy." I only find it to be mildly fishy at worst, and I quite enjoy the flavor, so I left the skin on.
The fish is first seasoned on both sides with salt and white pepper and dusted in Wondra flour. It is then placed in a sauté pan over medium heat (the oil should shimmer, but not smoke) and cooked skin side down for 3 minutes, flipped and cooked for 2 minutes more. When the fish is first placed in the pan, it will curl up. It must be firmly pressed down with a spatula (until it lays flat on its own) to ensure even crisping of the skin.
To plate, spoon about a tablespoon of the corn purée into the center of a plate and place the fish on top, skin side up. Spoon the mole sauce around the fish. Garnish with 2 of the peppers, sprinkle with the bonito flakes and Maldon sea salt.
A plating before the bonito, so the peppers are visible.
And the flavor? Without making a comprehensive list or thinking about it too much, I'm going to put this in the top 5 of dishes I've ever made. The mole had an incredible depth of flavor; it was earthy, smoky, meaty and wonderfully complex. It played off the corn purée perfectly, which was amazingly sweet and creamy. The shishito peppers added a brightness to the dish - a different chile note to compliment the mole sauce. And the bonito rounded things out nicely, giving the dish just a touch of added smokiness. None of these elements overwhelmed the fish. Everything worked together perfectly.
Sadly, I've never been to Le Bernardin, it's probably only second to The French Laundry in restaurants I want to try, but haven't yet. This dish only strengthens that desire.
Does the theme has to do with your professional field or is it more about your hobbies and kinds of spending your free time?
Posted by: DeeplyInArt | 2012.12.18 at 07:01 AM