Gribiche Sauce

Is this a sauce or is this a mayonnaise?  Both actually! 

My first encounter with this sauce was my mother making a tartare sauce this way, and actually this sauce is very close to tartare but different in that it has more herbs in it.  I serve it the way I saw on Adam Liaw's show, as a bed for a chicken snitzel, but you could use the oil, mustard, lemon and egg yolks and just make mayonnaise with those.

When you make the mayonnaise, you do not have to drizzle it in like a normal mayonnaise, but if you just dump it all in it will split.  So, just add it slowly mixing all the time.

I use chives and parsley but you can vary the herbs to whatever you like, try basil, thyme, tarragon or even celery or carrot tops.

This is really a very versatile sauce and goes really well with fish, chicken, or vegetables (think asparagus with sauce gribiche!)  Once you have made it you will want to keep making it.

Gribiche Sauce

Ingredients

20 g capers, finely chopped
15 g pickled jalapeños, finely chopped
½ red onion, finely chopped
½ bunch chives, thinly sliced
½ small bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Salt and black pepper

4 boiled eggs
1 lemon, halved
150 ml olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard

Method

I use two bowls, in one bowl put the yolks of the eggs.

Chop the egg whites, capers, onions, jalapenos, chives, parsley and add salt and pepper.  Add this to the other bowl.

Mash the egg yolks, add about 1/2 the juice of the lemon and all the mustard, mix until it is smooth.

Add the oil in slowly until it is a mayonnaise, just keep whisking or mixing.

Now just check the seasoning and add more lemon if required.

Mix the chopped herbs etc into the mayonnaise and refrigerate. 

Roasted Snapper with with leeks and olives

My son made this recipe and loved it!  This is made with snapper, but you could make it with any white fleshed fish fillets, or even a cutlet like blue eye.  Use the BEST olive oil you can afford as it will make a difference to the dish.  Also, sourdough is preferable, but you could use any bread.  Do not cook the leeks at too high a temperature.   Simple and delicious.

Vietnamese fish cakes

I have several recipes for these fishcakes, and they all involve fish and red curry paste.  Then the fish cakes turn out too strong for me, with no taste of the fish.  When I saw a Bill's recipe with no curry paste, I tried it out, found it a little too simple and modified it as below.  These cakes taste more of fish than curry and so they do not assault the senses!

 

If you cannot get snake beans, just use normal beans. If you like the fish cakes a lot more spicy, add a chopped chilli to the fish mix.  Serve with a simple Vietnamese salad of lettuce, mint, coriander, sliced mango, bean sprouts and a dressing of lime, olive oil seasoned with a dash of soy, fish sauce and sugar.  As for the fish - I use the cheapest white fish fillets at the market, the only thing to avoid is very oily fish.  You can make really little fish cakes and serve them as starters for a party with the dipping sauce.

 

I made a batch of these and froze them, then vacuum  sealed them and froze them - turned out great, just defrost and fry.

 

The recipe makes enough for 4, with a few left over for lunch the next day.

 

The Mosquito's Fish Tagine

This was from a little restaurant in Sydney that speciallised in Moroccon cuisine, the Mosquito Bar.  I obtained it from a SMH Good Weekend Magazine.   The chief was Hassan M'souli, who originally came from Casablanca, but trained in Paris.  I notice SBS.com.au has a lot of his recipies online.  

Use a fish that is quite firm such as sordfish.  Begin this recipie 3 hours before you need to serve. (you need to marinate the fish) Cook in a tagine, or baking dish, but make sure it is covered tightly so that it does not dry out.  Serve it with couscous, and the carrot salad (recipie at the end).  You can also top with fresh coriander leaves.

You can also make this recipie using a whole snapper and the Chermoula.  Just make large slits in the snapper to make sure it cooks well.

Thai Fish Cakes

This is the basic fish cake recipie I have used for years, I think it originally came from a Keens's booklet.

 

Serve with lime, coriander and peanuts, or a dipping sauce made from lime, fish sauce, water, sugar, and chilli.  You can omit the chillies, coriander and spring onions from the food processor and add them in with the beans if you like to have them more authentic - looking.  In Thailand they are mixed by hand.