Pawaru-Grahmata

№ 58IX. nodaļa

Pastēte no zuša

Fish pie with stewed onions and a sharp egg sauce (originally eel)

  • Serves 4–6
  • about 1¼ hours
  • Melnraksts · vēl nav izmēģināts

1796Pasteete no suscha.

Modernizētslpp. 422 · PDF 436
4 porcijas

The book gives no quantities; the amounts below are ours, for a 22 cm pie dish. We use farmed catfish instead of eel (see Notes).

Method

7 soļi
  1. Cut the fish into slices about 2 cm thick (the book cuts the eel into thin rounds). Bring a pan of water with the salt to a simmer, add the fish and poach for 3 minutes, until half cooked. Drain well in a colander.
  2. Put the onions, water, pepper, mace and cloves in a small pan, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then uncover and cook for 5–10 minutes more, stirring, until the onions are soft and most of the liquid has gone, leaving a thick onion sauce. Pick out the cloves.
  3. Heat the oven to 220 °C (200 °C fan). Spread the soft butter thickly over the bottom of a 22 cm pie dish about 4 cm deep. Lay in the fish and spoon the onion sauce over it.
  4. Wet the rim of the dish, lay the pastry over, press it onto the rim and trim. Cut a 2 cm steam hole (our addition) and brush with the yolk glaze.
  5. Bake for 25–30 minutes, until the pastry is risen and deep golden and the fish reaches 63 °C.
  6. Meanwhile make the sauce: simmer the vinegar, water, butter and pepper for 3–4 minutes. Whisk the yolks in a bowl, whisk in the hot liquid a little at a time, return it to the pan and stir over low heat until it thickens slightly and coats a spoon (about 80 °C). Don't let it boil.
  7. Pour the sauce into the pie through the steam hole, or cut round the lid, pour it in and replace the lid.

Notes

What the book says vs. what we added

the book skins the eel, cuts it into thin round pieces, boils them half done in water with salt and drains them. Finely chopped onions are boiled in water with pepper, mace and cloves until thick. Plenty of butter goes into the dish, then the eel, then this onion sauce, and a lid of soft puff pastry brushed with egg yolk; then it is baked. A second sauce of wine vinegar and water with butter and crushed pepper is boiled a while, beaten with egg yolks and poured over the pie "as is known". The fish substitute, amounts, steam hole, oven temperature and times are ours.

Eel

the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, and its trade is restricted. Farmed eel doesn't help: eels don't breed in captivity, so farms grow on young glass eels caught in the wild. Farmed catfish is the closest substitute here, being firm and rich. Thick pieces of mackerel fillet also work: skip the poaching and bake for 20–25 minutes. If you do use eel, buy it killed and skinned by the fishmonger, and keep raw eel blood away from cuts and eyes (cooking destroys its toxin).

The sauce is sharp and peppery, meant to cut the richness of the eel and butter; with leaner catfish you may like a little less vinegar.

Pastry

the book's puff pastry is in 09-000; its general pie method in 09-000b.

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