Recipe: Brill with Spinach and Asparagus

1 Place your brill fillets in a oven tray and cover them with your shallots, wine, cream, fish stock, the asparagus stalks cut in small dices and season with salt and pepper.

2 Put your tray on a medium heat and bring to the boil. Then, take it off the heat and set it aside.

3 In a thick bottom pot, heat up the butter until it reaches a nice golden brown colour. Then, quickly cook your spinach, on a high heat, until wilted. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. When done, set them aside in a bowl.

4 Carefully, take your cooked brill fillets of out of its cooking juices and place them on a tray. Keep them in the oven set at 50'C (122'F).

5 Pour the cooking juices into a pot and reduce the liquid until it reaches a smooth, creamy consistency. Then, strain it through a fine sieve. Rectify the seasoning and set aside in a double-boiler.

6 Arrangements

Start by placing a spoon full of spinach at the centre of each plates. Then, place three asparagus tips coming out of the spinach base. Place a fillet of brill on the spinach and coat it with some sauce.

I complemented this recipe by a picture of this dish realized (with Dublin bay prawns) by Master cook Joly who presided the prestigious lunch of the "marmite d'or" which was served in the sumptuous settings of the Chenonceau castle in the Loire valley.