Quenelles de Brochet Sauce Nantua

Ingredients

• 250 ml whole milk
• 70 g butter
• 160 g plain flour
• 400 g skinless pike or other firm white fish fillet, well chilled
• 3 eggs plus 1 egg white
• 125 g soft butter
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
• 250 g raw crayfish or shell-on prawns
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 3 tbsp cognac
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 60 g butter for the sauce
• 30 g plain flour for the sauce
• 500 ml whole milk for the sauce
• 150 ml double cream
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Salt and white pepper

Before you cook

• Cut the fish into 2 centimetre cubes and put them in the freezer for 20 minutes so they are very cold
• Chop the shallot and dice the carrot
• Take the 125 g of butter out to soften
• Butter a large baking dish

Steps

1. Bring the 250 millilitres of milk to the boil with the 70 g of butter, a good pinch of salt and the nutmeg.
2. Tip in the 160 g of flour all at once and beat hard with a wooden spoon until the paste comes away from the sides.
3. Dry the paste over low heat for six minutes, turning it constantly, then spread it on a plate to cool completely.
4. Blitz the very cold fish in a food processor for one minute, until it forms a smooth, sticky paste.
5. Add the cooled paste in pieces and blitz again until the mixture is even.
6. Add the egg white, then the whole eggs one at a time, blitzing between each addition.
7. Add the soft butter with a good pinch of salt and white pepper and blitz for a final minute until silky.
8. Scrape the mixture into a bowl, cover it and chill for one hour so it firms up.
9. Peel the crayfish or prawns, keeping every shell and head, and refrigerate the tails.
10. Fry the shells in 20 g of the sauce butter over high heat for four minutes, crushing them with the end of a rolling pin as they turn red.
11. Add the shallot and the carrot and cook for three minutes more.
12. Stir in the tomato puree, pour in the cognac and set it alight or let it boil away for one minute.
13. Add the white wine and 200 millilitres of water, then simmer for 20 minutes to draw out the flavour.
14. Strain this shellfish stock through a fine sieve, pressing the shells hard, and discard them.
15. Melt the remaining 40 g of sauce butter in a clean pan, stir in the 30 g of flour and cook for two minutes.
16. Whisk in the 500 millilitres of milk a little at a time, then the strained shellfish stock, and simmer for eight minutes until smooth and glossy.
17. Stir in the cream and the cayenne, season, then drop in the reserved tails and take the pan off the heat.
18. Bring a wide pan of salted water to a bare simmer, with no bubbles breaking the surface.
19. Shape the chilled mixture into eight ovals using two large spoons dipped in hot water.
20. Poach the quenelles for 10 to 12 minutes, turning them once, until they float and feel springy.
21. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and drain them on a tea towel for two minutes.
22. Arrange the quenelles in the buttered dish with space around each one and pour the sauce over.
23. Bake at 200C for 20 minutes, until the quenelles have puffed to twice their size and the sauce is bubbling at the edges.
24. Serve immediately, before they sink.