Pike-Perch with Celeriac
This dish showcases pike-perch, a firm, white-fleshed freshwater fish. In the U.S., pike or perch may be substituted. The fish is sautéed, then served on a pool of celeriac purée surrounded by a dark wine sauce. At the restaurant, Chef Rodolphe steams tiny pea-sized balls of celeriac to dot in the sauce for final presentation; the alternative, suggested below, uses tiny dots of celeriac purée.
Ingredients
- Celeriac Purée
- Celery Root (Celeriac) - 1 pound, cut into chunks
- Milk - to cover
- Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
- Sauce
- Leek - 1, white part, peeled and cut into small dice
- Carrot - 1, peeled and cut into small dice
- Shallots - 2, minced
- Garlic Clove - 1, minced
- Celery Stalk - 1, (inner stalk, with leaves), roughly chopped
- Unsalted Butter - 2 tablespoons
- Bouquet Garni - 1
- Bones from the pike-perch
- Sancerre red wine - 1 bottle
- Unsalted Butter - 1/2 cup, cut into pieces
- Pike-perch Fillets - 4 (alt. fresh water trout, pike, or perch)
- Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
- Olive Oil - 2 to 3 tablespoons
- Unsalted Butter - 2 to 3 tablespoons
Instructions
To prepare the celeriac: Put the celeriac in a saucepan and cover with milk. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat to medium, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Pass the mixture through a food mill or coarse strainer, discarding the solids. Stir the cream. Set aside and keep warm.
To prepare the sauce: Combine the leek, carrot, shallot, garlic, celery stalk, and 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan. Place over medium-high heat and sauté 1 minute. Add the fish bones, bouquet garni, and wine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and cook 20 minutes. Remove the bouquet garni. Press the sauce base mixture through a fine-meshed sieve and return the sauce base to the pan. Continue cooking until the sauce base is reduced to about 2 tablespoons. Set aside. The butter will be added as a last step to finish the sauce.
To prepare the fish: Score the fish skin with shallow criss-cross cuts and season with salt and pepper. Heat the 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the fish, skin-side down, and 2 tablespoons of the butter. Weigh down with a plate on top of the fish. Sauté the fish for 4 minutes, lifting the plate and basting the fish with the oil and butter; turn and sauté for another 2 minutes. The fish should be golden and done through. The fish fillets should not touch in the pan; sauté in batches, using the additional oil and butter, if necessary.
To finish the sauce: Warm the sauce base over medium heat. Add 2 to 3 pieces of butter and whisk vigorously to combine. Continue adding butter, a piece at a time, whisking vigorously between each addition. Move the pan on and off the heat as necessary to keep the mixture warm, but not melt the butter in the pan. If you see streaks of yellow butter in the pan, remove it from the heat immediately and whisk in several pieces of butter until the sauce recombines.
To serve: Put 1/4 cup of the celeriac purée in a squeeze bottle. Pool the remaining celeriac purée in the center of each warmed serving plate. Place a fish fillet on each, scored-side up. Spoon sauce around the celeriac purée. Put the reserved celeriac purée in a squeeze bottle and decorate the sauce with a circle of tiny dots of purée.
