Pawaru-Grahmata

№ 55IX. nodaļa

Pastēte no līdeka

Pike pie with crayfish, oysters and forcemeat balls

  • Serves 6
  • about 2½ hours
  • Melnraksts · vēl nav izmēģināts

1796Pasteete no lihdeka.

Modernizētslpp. 418–420 · PDF 432–434
6 porcijas

The book gives no amounts; the amounts below are ours, for one pike of about 2 kg.

Method

8 soļi
  1. Fish. Fillet and skin the pike, or ask the fishmonger to. Pike fillets have a row of forked Y-bones: pull them out with tweezers, or cut them out in a narrow strip. Cut 600 g of the flesh into 4–5 cm pieces and keep 400 g for the forcemeat. Simmer the head and bones in 500 ml water for 25 minutes and strain: this is the stock for the sauce. Take the gall bladder off the liver carefully and slice the liver.
  2. Sweat. Melt the butter in a wide pan and add the pike pieces, liver, 6 of the oysters, the crayfish tails, mace, pepper, salt, bay leaves and parsley. Cook very gently, turning, for 3–4 minutes, just until the fish turns opaque. Leave to cool and take out the bay leaves.
  3. Forcemeat. Make it as in 09-053 step 2. Shape a third of it into 12 small balls with two teaspoons and poach them for 4 minutes in simmering salted water or stock; drain.
  4. Pastry. Rub the butter into the flour and salt until it looks like breadcrumbs, then bind with the egg and water. Chill for 30 minutes. Line a 22 cm pie tin or dish, 5 cm deep, with two thirds of it.
  5. Assemble. Heat the oven to 200 °C. Spread half the remaining forcemeat thinly over the base. Lay the pike, liver and crayfish on top (leave their juices behind) with the pieces of butter, the other 6 oysters, the forcemeat balls, capers, olives and lemon slices. Cover with a thin layer of the rest of the forcemeat. Put on the lid, seal and crimp, cut a hole in the middle and brush with egg yolk.
  6. Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the oven to 180 °C and bake for 30–35 minutes more, until golden and the centre reaches 70 °C. Prick the lid once or twice with a fork while it bakes to let out steam.
  7. Sauce. Bring the stock and oyster liquor to the boil and boil it down to about 100 ml. Off the heat, whisk in the cold butter a few pieces at a time, then add the parsley, lemon juice and salt.
  8. Finish. Widen the hole in the lid a little and pour in the sauce. Brush the fork holes with egg yolk to seal them and put the pie back in the oven for 5 minutes.

Notes

What the book says vs. what we added

the book scales the pike, opens it along the back, cleans it and cuts it into medium pieces, which are sweated in butter with oysters, the pike's liver, crayfish tails, mace, pepper, salt, bay leaves and chopped parsley, then cooled. A case of butter pastry gets a thin layer of forcemeat, the pike with pieces of butter, oysters, forcemeat balls made from the same forcemeat, capers, olives and lemon slices, and another thin layer of forcemeat. The lid is brushed with egg yolk, pricked with a fork now and then during baking, and the sauce poured in through a hole cut in the lid; the fork holes are sealed with egg yolk and the pie goes back into the oven. Filleting, the pastry recipe, the stock, the sauce (which the book does not specify for this version), the amounts and the times are ours.

Pike

pike is easy to find in the Baltic and much of Central Europe, but its Y-bones make it fiddly. Zander fillets have fewer bones and work just as well. Pike liver is edible and delicate; remove the green gall bladder without breaking it.

Oysters in a freshwater pie

oysters went into many dishes in the 18th century as a luxury seasoning, like anchovies. Leave them out if you like, and use 200 g crayfish tails instead.

Variation, Uz citu vīzi

with a sharp knife the book cuts the scales and skin off the freshly killed pike in one go, takes all the flesh off the bones, cuts it up and sprinkles it with salt, pepper and allspice. A case of fine puff pastry gets forcemeat on the bottom, then the pike with butter, wine, lemon slices "and whatever else you like", then forcemeat again, and is baked. The sauce is made from butter, parsley and lemons. A modern version: cut 800 g skinless pike or zander fillet into 3 cm pieces and season with salt, pepper and ½ tsp ground allspice. Line a 22 cm dish with puff pastry, spread with half of 400 g fish forcemeat, add the fish with 30 g butter, 50 ml white wine and a few lemon slices, cover with the rest of the forcemeat and a pastry lid, and bake for 35–40 minutes at 200 °C. Serve with 100 g butter melted with 2 tbsp chopped parsley and the juice of ½ lemon.

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