Galettes Des Rois, Monkfish and Crustacean Butter

Last weekend was the birthday of my daughter Aimée.  This happy event  unfortunately fell this year in the aftermath of the tragic events that consumed Paris.

Celebrations were subdued this year in that they were confined to home, rather than go out in a city already traumatized. We initially were thinking about celebrating in a grand palace of gastronomy, until the sky rained tears over Paris, and neither of us really wanted to go out on the town.

In the end, Aimée decided she wanted to buy whatever caught her eye from our adorable and cute young poissonnier,  and have me  orchestrate and cook her  magnificent birthday dinner chez nous.

Every Saturday I set out to the Marché Jourdan, which is the newest of all the Parisian open air marchés, having only opened last year.  His seafood stand is the first one I go to as I always have fruits of the sea on Saturdays, and never quite know in advance what I really want till I am there.

With a roaring loud voice, that can be heard across the street, he proudly announces that he is ” le poissonier qui n’est jamais fatigué”, the fish merchant who is never tired.  His fish and crustaceans  always look as impeccably fresh as he does and they are delivered with a big bonjour, jokes and smiles.

I can’t understand his jovial demeanor or stamina, because his “day” begins at 1:30am, when the rest of us are in deep sleep. He heads out to Rungis to retrieve his seafood, and then starts to set up his stand by 5 am.

Last Saturday the monkfish tails were particularly glistening and just the perfect size.   I immediately started thinking about what sauce I wanted to accompany this lovely fish.

I  suddenly visualized doing it à la Armoricaine, my way, with a crustacean butter.  Knowing that I had saved lobsters carcasses from New Years Eve in the freezer, then all I needed was a few fresh shrimps to round out the flavour.

Next was to the oyster stand, run by several women who sell oysters from the deep blue Atlantic that surrounds the Ile de Oleron off the French coast near Bordeaux.  They are famous for their ‘fines de claires’, which are oysters that have a very slight greenish tinge due to the micro algae in the sea.

We selected the ‘plein mer’ ones, considered oysters ‘sauvage’, that are not affinated like the claires.  They are taken directly from the ocean and not finished off in the sea bassins, which gives them a more iodine full sea flavour.

I love oysters from all the regions of France, as each region has their own distinct flavour , which I could write a whole post on. It was the Romans who started oyster harvesting along the coasts of France over 2,000 years ago.

Further down is the Antilles/African food stand, whose smiling proprietor had thrust small cups of his  tropical rum drink in our hands, before we could even say bonjour.   With calypso like music in the background, all inquiries  were met with  one plate after another to taste whatever we asked about, rather than any full description.

The extremely generous degustation won us over and we went merrily away with some spicy ragout de mérou (grouper) and avocado with crab which made for a lovely lunch.

We made a  quick stop at our olive, dried fruits and nuts vendor,  a really nice man with kind eyes and friendly smiles, who gave us some delicious dates for New Years.  We were in need of some more of the tiny dried wild figs from Spain and candied ginger.

With hundreds of varieties of goat cheese to choose from in France, this small stand is from the Berry region,  just south of the Loire valley where they milk their own goats and raise pigs. Their creamy goat cheeses are above the ordinary and can be had at 15 or 21 days of age, as well as fresh un aged goat cheese and a goat cheese sour cream.

Last stops are at several green grocers that are resplendent with seasonal fruits and vegetables.  They are all excellent, but our favourite is the friendliest and the most generous.  The very congenial owner likes to sneak in our hands extra gifts of mangos, persimmons, strawberries, pears, or whatever might be in season as a thank you for our business.

The main reason I prefer to buy at the open air marches is not only getting the freshest vegetable and fruits for the best price, but the human factor, which for me is extra important and its fun!

I usually make Aimée a lemon and raspberry dacquoise, for her birthday, but because I had some left over pâte feuilletèe (puff pastry)  dough, crème amandes (almonds), and crème patissier from Friday, she wanted a Galette des Rois.   I had been demonstrating  making puff pastry and  galettes to a young pastry student to be, so it was a quicker process of putting together another one.

I made one round with the frangipane crème and being the non conformist that I tend to be, another in a rectangular shape, this one filled with just the crème amande and some blueberries.

Pâte feuilletèe made the classical way takes around 7 hours from start to finish, but only homemade dough is worth making for any pastries, especially a galette des rois.   It is a fun dough to work with though, and you can do so many things with it.

The galette is composed of one top and bottom layer of puff pastry, filled with frangipane or in other variations like the blueberry one seen in the photos and of course the fève!   After painting with egg yolk, I made decorative designs then a rest in the refrigerator before baking.

While the finished galettes were resting in the refrigerator, it was time to start my crustacean stock. A lobster carcass, frozen from new years eve, the shrimp peelings and heads, were all sautéed to lightly caramelise, before adding them to the pot with shallots, thyme, and parsley to boil about 30 minutes.

It was definitely time for  Champagne, and its loud pop was like a proustian reminder that the party is officially on!   It was a rosé made with 100% pinot noir, whereas most Champagnes are made with two other grapes, the Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay.

The crushed black Pinot Noir grapes give the champagne the pink color if the skins are allowed to macerate with the juice for a short period of time.

Aimée started opening the oysters, and I  added their first juice to the stockpot.  Oysters release their second juice, which is more flavourful and saltier in about 20 minutes. Just a few squirts of lemon and they are gloriously refreshingly.

Next step was making the crustacean butter by putting the drained crustacean pieces and peelings in a robot coupe and adding melted butter till you get a gritty mixture.  I then put the whole crustacean slush in a passoire (colander), pressing on the mixture till it exudes the lovely crustacean butter, by now coloured a rosy pink.

All that was left was deboning the monk fish tail, which was a breeze, and slicing them.  A quick sauté to just lightly brown them was sufficient.  Then they were gently poached very briefly in the stock and set  aside.

After I reduced the crustacean stock, I slowly incorporated the crustacean butter, which thickened the stock further.  All that was left to do was to nap the monk fish slices with my sauce on preheated plates and serve.

The monkfish was so soft and succulent,  it literally melts in your mouth!   The delicious sauce with the crustacean butter was  perfectly sublime!

Accompanied with slivered bright green snow peas with a touch of  red onion, it made for a delicious main course. A white burgundy from Meursault was divine and a perfect choice for such a rich creamy sauce.

The galettes were crispy and very buttery, and though not a traditional birthday pastry, they were absolutely wonderful and Aimée got the fève.  The blueberry one was prettier cut and married well with the almond cream, though lemon curd would be great too.

It was really a beautiful birthday dinner made with love, served with love and as delicious as we could have had in any starred restaurant.  Candlelight glowing as usual and overlooking a splendid view of Paris at night, it is always magic at any time, especially over a last glass of birthday Champagne!