Florida Dinner Part III

Raspberry-Lemon Glace'

I like to make these little palate-cleansers even though in this case there wasn't a drastic need for it. These are typically totally creative and I use whatever strikes my fancy and is at hand.

Red Raspberry Jam (1/4 cup?)
Fresh Lemon juice from one lemon
Vanilla Vodka (about 1/3 of total or to taste)

Mix ingredients thoroughly in a bowl and either place bowl in freezer OR (and I do this often) pour into small shaped molds (I typically use candy molds) and freeze.

Classically one places the mixture in the freezer and every twenty minutes or so (sooner as it starts to freeze) go in and mix it up with a fork. This is what I did on this occasion as my resources are yet limited in Florida. I almost always use some kind of liquor, snapps, etc.,to slow the freezing and for additional flavor and kick. When I use molds I let the mixture set and then plunge the molds into warm water just to loosen; then remove the glace and place in serving glasses. The unmolding usually makes the ice just the right consistency for a glace'.

Main Course

Basel Rainbow Trout with Angel Hair Pasta
and Sugar Peas with Scallions and Baby Portabellas

One of the local markets had some nice fresh rainbow trout fillets and while this is not a local Florida fish it fit the seafood theme and we had already enjoyed local fresh grouper in two of the other courses. I got a nice one and a half pound fillet and prepared it simply by washing it, cutting for nice fillets off of the skin and drying.

Puff Pastry

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup butter (cold)
Ice water (1/2 cup or so
Salt to taste (1/2 tsp)
1 stick (or more) cold butter (salted/unsalted according to your taste/diet)

I hadn't made puff pastry in a long time when I read the book, "The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry" by Kathleen Flinn (recommended!) and it got me back on track. So I tried it once again after a long layoff, and bingo, worked like a charm.

So-o-o the absolute, most important thing in making puff pastry is to keep everything C-O-L-D. The basic dough recipe varies a bit from cookbook to cookbook but these above are good balances for ingredients. You can increase or decrease based on need. It may seem overkill but cool everything: rolling pin, rolling board, bowl, keep cooling the dough between each round of folding, even wash your hands in cold water if manipulating the dough (but avoid doing much handling).

Make the dough by blending in the flour and salt with the 1/4 cup of butter until well mixed.(I typically use a fork or the old Foley Fork -- has anyone seen these for sale anywhere???)[I'm told you can use a food processor for this, but I guess I'm old school on this point.] Add ice water gradually until you have a medium stiff dough. Refrigerate.

After twenty minutes you aready to begin shaping the puff pastry. Take dough from fridge and roll out on your cold board with your cold rolling pin. [Up north I have a marble rolling pin which stays nicely cold for some time. Down here I actually put my wooden rolling pin in the freezer.]Roll into a rectangle. [BTW I'm not going to tell you how big. It really doesn't matter and depends on the amount of dough you made.] To about one-eighth of an inch thick or so. [I also don't get too excited about how exact my rectangle is -- try for the general shape.]Place dough in fridge for twenty minutes to cool down.

Now here's the tricky part (time to wash those hands in cold water!)-- probably best to do the slicing of the butter ahead if you are new at this and put the butter slices in the fridge until ready -- slice the butter lengthwise into one-inch thick slices and place quickly on top of two-thirds of the rectangle starting at one long end and moving toward the other. Fill up two-thirds of the pastry with these long slices. Then you take the uncovered one-third and fold it over the middle third (now covered with butter slices) and then fold it again to the far third. You will end up with a smaller rectangle. Turn 90 degrees and roll this out with your cold rolling pin until about the shape and size of your first rectangle. Fold over in thirds as you just did, only you are not adding any more butter, turn 90 degrees and roll out again. Turn 90 degrees and repeat folding and then pop in fridge to stay cold (wrap in wax paper or clear wrap). [Some recipes call for doing three rolling-outs each time, but you face the possibility of the dough getting too warm and the butter melting into the flour which is what will destroy your puff pastry. Put your rolling pin and board in freezer between each rolling out, as well.

Twenty minutes or so later repeat the rolling, turning, folding, rolling, turning, folding again. Then put in fridge again and wait and do again in another twenty minutes or so. [You can do this several more times, but this is probably enough, though once more won't hurt anything and it will give you thinner 'puffs'or sheets.]

It probably sounds like too much effort to do this when you can buy frozen puff pastry in your local supermarket, but it is one-helluva feeling when it puffs up so nice and friendly when you bake it.

When my dough was done and back in the fridge I got the fish ready, took the pastry out one last time and rolled it out to about an eighth of an inch or so into a shape that would provide enough pastry to wrap each piece of fish (I rolled into a squarish-rectangular shape. I dusted the fish with a tad of white pepper and wrapped each fillet in just enough dough to cover pinching the ends to seal. [I also made a cute little fish from extra dough and placed on top of each. Presentation, you know. Then voila --ready for the oven. Depending on your oven bake at 425 or 450 until puffed and browned lightly. Serve with Basel sauce (see below).

Basel Sauce for fish

Fresh Basel
Butter
Freshly squeezed lemon
White wine vinegar
Lowfat sour cream (about a cup)
Lowfat butter milk
Flour for thickening if desired
White pepper

I wanted a bit of a light tangy sauce for the rainbow trout in puff pastry so I used the basel as a centerpiece and did the following:

Melt a few tbls butter in small saucepan, squeeze in juice from a large lemon, put in several heavy dashes of white wine vinegar to taste. Cook on medium heat until warm. If you want to thicken this sauce mix a scant tbls of flour into about a half cup or so of the sour cream.) Mix in sour cream mixture to thicken. Add medium to finely chopped basel just to barely wilt and then thin slightly with buttermilk (adds a bit of a slightly sweet tangyness -- must be added at end or it will curdle over medium heat). Take off heat, sprinkle in a bit of white pepper and serve with fish.

Enjoy!

Next time: rejuvenated angelhair pasta, veggie, and dessert.