I know! I know!! It's not really a Pot Au Feu
But this is a fantastic way of cooking wonderful seafood, The process is ridiculously long but well well worth the effort, the flavours are immense. A fantastic dinner party dish, Bringing out a large casserole dish, lifting the lid and allowing your guests to smell all those wonderful delicious flavours
The seafood in this recipe is top drawer, but by all means adapt to a more modest but nonetheless tasty dish by using, whiting, mackerel, prawns etc
SHOPPING LIST
2 sea bass, scaled, cleaned and gutted
4 red mullet, scaled, cleaned and gutted
16 large mussels, scraped and washed, discard any that are open
4 oysters, carefully opened, reserve the juices
4 fillets of lemon sole
8 large langoustines
4 large scallops
2 shallots finely chopped
1 bunch of parsley
1 bunch of tarragon
8 whole peppercorns
a good pinch of sugar
100ml of dry white wine
200ml of red wine
! bouquet garni
250g of chilled butter cut into cubes
12 asparagus tips
200g of baby vegetables, turnips, carrots, green beans and leeks
1 crusty French stick
Anchovy fillets
1 lemon
METHOD
Firstly blanch the vegetables in boiling salted water until just tender, DO NOT OVER COOK
Now cook the fish, this will take a little time, take care when cooking the fish, this is essential to the finished dish. Pre heat the oven to 200c, In an oven proof dish place some of the chopped shallots and parsley, place the sea bass in and cover with the rest of the parsley, add a good splash of water and cover with a lid, place in the oven for 6 minutes
Remove from the oven, carefully lift the sea bass from the dish, set aside and keep warm.
Clean out the dish, now add the red wine, garni, tarragon, peppercorns and sugar, bring to the boil and reduce for 5 minutes, take off the heat add the sole and poach for 5 minutes
remove from the dish and keep warm to one side, reserve the juices.
Clean out the dish and add the white wine and some more chopped shallot, bring to the boil and poach the langoustines for 1 minute, remove with a slotted spoon, keep warm to one side, bring the liquid back to the boil, add the mullet and poach for 2 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm with the langoustines.
Now bring this liquid back to the boil, add the mussels and cook for 4 minutes until the shells have opened, remove with a slotted spoon and keep to one side
Finely carefully poach the oysters and scallops in the liquid, for 1 minute ONLY, DO NOT OVER COOK!!
Remove with a slotted spoon and keep to one side.
Now make the sauce by adding the juices from the oysters, mussels, mullet and the sole, bring these juices to a simmer, slowly whisk in the butter cubes at a time until fully incorporated, the sauce should be smooth and velvety.
Slice the bread, brush with olive oil and grill on both sides, spread each piece of bread with a fillet of anchovy.
Now to serve the POT AU FEU
Warm a large oven proof casserole dish, pour half the sauce into the bottom, very carefully arrange the fish and shellfish in the casserole dish, garnish with the vegetables, pour over the remaining sauce, put a lid on and place into the oven for 6-8 minutes to heat through.
Carefully remove from the oven, remove the lid, squeeze over the lemon juice and any remaining herbs, serve in the centre of the table with the French stick, Allow your guests to help themselves.