French stocks and sauces: Part Three: Fish-Sauce

Before we get started: contact me for a complete recipe  for last week's Roasted Herb Chicken

​Intro: This is my fourth blog (it took two blogs to cover chicken) aimed at helping beginners to prepare French sauces. This week my focus is on fish sauce and I will use the Stove-Top Cooking Method where I will cook a small fish filet on the stove and created a sauce for it at the same time.  
 
I just came back from the market, and the best and freshest seafood that they had in stock were scallops and shrimp, so that is what I will go with today. (I originally wanted to prepare a white fish filet, but no worries, I can easily substitute scallops for the white fish and bring shrimp along for the ride).

​Cooking Seafood using the Stove-Top-Cooking Method 

​Intro: The process for cooking seafood is very similar to cooking the chicken breast (that I featured in my second blog) where I completed the breast on the stove-top. 

Cooking seafood using the Stove-Top-Cooking Method
in three steps:

​1) Sauté your seafood. On a medium flame sauté your flour-dusted scallops and flour-free shrimp on both sides until the scallops brown and the shrimp becomes reddish-pink in color. They should be done at this point. (It only takes a couple of minutes to cook standard sized scallops and shrimp).  ​Remove the shellfish from the pan by using a strainer so that all of the sauté oil is discarded.

Shellfish is strained of all the sauté oil

​2) Make your sauce. Next, remove the pan from the stove, add your wine (probably white wine for shellfish and white fish) and  more essential ingredients (like, butter, cream, citrus, fish fumet, etc.). Now whisk your sauce while it reduces to a creamy consistency. When it is ready, return the shellfish to the pan.

Sauce is reduced to a cream consistency

3) Plate your seafood. First, plate your starch and your vegetable, and then sauce the bottom of the plate where you will place your seafood. (This week I used spiced couscous as a starch). Plate your seafood and then top with more sauce. (I always serve seafood entrées with a vegetable of some kind because seafood filets tend to come in smaller portions than beef or chicken). 

Sauce is applied

Scallops Almandine with Shrimp

Next week: Stocks.

The purpose of these blogs: The ultimate purpose of these blogs is to help you to successfully prepare French cuisine so that you can eventually plan and serve a multi course-meal.