Cold Trout (truite froide)

About the dish

A cold French-style dish from the chapter on fish. Erken shows how cooked trout is filleted, laid on a gelatin-set tomato mousse, and covered with fish aspic – a typical cold-buffet dish from the days before the refrigerator, hence the instruction to set the dish on ice.

How to make it

1. 1

   Cook the trout

   Gut the trout and cook it in the same marinade and in the same way as cold salmon. Let the fish go completely cold in the stock.

2. 2

   Make the tomato base

   Peel the tomatoes, remove the seeds, and chop the flesh. Let it cook with the butter for 8 minutes. Stir in the white base sauce.

3. 3

   Set and lighten

   Thicken the sauce with softened gelatin (8 sheets per liter of sauce), press it through a fine-mesh strainer, and blend in half-whipped cream, half as much as you have sauce. Season with lemon, salt, and pepper.

4. 4

   Lay down the base

   Pour the tomato mixture into an oblong, slightly deep dish and let it set cold.

5. 5

   Fillet the fish

   Carefully cut out the two fillets. Cover one with chopped tarragon and chervil and a little lobster roe, and lay the fillets back together.

6. 6

   Coat with aspic and chill

   Place the fillets on the tomato base and cover them with almost-set fish aspic. Set the dish cold on ice until the aspic is firm.

7. 7

   Variations

   Instead of tomatoes, you can use shrimp, lobster, crayfish tails, or vegetables in the base; the method is otherwise the same.

8. 8

   Serve

   Serve the dish well chilled, preferably as part of a cold buffet.