Recipe: Pike Quenelles

The day before

1 Prepare your béchamel sauce and let it cool.

2 Blend or pound your pike flesh, then pass it through a fine sieve and set aside in a bowl.

3 Prepare a large bowl with ice cubes, then place the one with pike flesh inside it (ice bath) and, as if you were making mayonnaise, incorporate the almost frozen cream slowly. Add fine salt and a pinch of Cayenne, the just-melted butter, then the beaten eggs little by little. Then put the bowl in the fridge, covered with film until the next day.

The day itself

4 In a large pot, bring 4 liters of salted water to a boil.

5 In the meantime, dust your work surface lightly with flour, a marble slab is best. Using a tablespoon, make small mounds and roll your quenelles so they are long or slightly domed.

6 In simmering water, poach your quenelles for 12 to 15 minutes, they must turn over themselves. Drain them and refresh them in ice water, then drain them again on a cloth.

7 Now prepare your sauce. Reduce your wine by half, then add your liquid cream and your béchamel sauce, it should be quite liquid. Taste and adjust seasoning.

8 Turn on the oven to grill position.

9 In a bowl, break 2 raw egg yolks mixed with a tablespoon of milk, then add it to the hot sauce while stirring. Place your pike quenelles in a shallow ovenproof dish and pour the sauce over them.

10 Put under the grill to gratinée and serve very hot.

You will also probably see recipes based on panade or with the addition of veal kidney fat. Of course, these are also called classical methods, but I find that this recipe is the finest of all.

If you want to make a pike soufflé, do the same but use only the yolks, then at the end beat your whites until stiff and fold them into your mixture. Then cook them in a tall mold (flexipan) for 15 minutes at 140°, remove them and set your oven to 185°, return your soufflés for 15 minutes and serve immediately.

You can replace pike flesh with zander or whiting. You can also replace Coteaux du Layon with a sweet wine such as Sauternes, late harvest, Jurançon, etc.

The béchamel sauce recipe is on our site. You can prepare it the day before finishing this recipe.