The method
Recipe provided by The Four Seasons Hotel in Perthshire
Method for sauce
- Melt butter in a heavy bottom pot until foaming.
- Add all ingredients after they have been minced in Robo coup or similar.
- Cook for about 30 mins until pulpy and sweet.
- Add 2 table spoons of cider vinegar and 2 pints of good strength fresh chicken stock.
- Boil for a further 20 mins until 50% reduction is achieved.
- Pass through a fine chinoise, pushing as much of the pulp through as possible.
- To finish, whisk stock, pulp and butter together, put into a saucepan with shredded leeks until mulsification is achieved.
- Add mussel meat and serve.
For the fish
- Soak Salt Cod in cold water for 24 hours.
- Change water 3 times.
- Poach in simmering water until you can just begin to separate the flakes at the centre of the piece.
- Remove from water.
- In a heavy stainless steel pan melt butter until foaming, add pepper, onions and garlic. Cook until soft.
- Add rice and lower heat.
- Cook rice slowly stirring all the time until the rice has softened, but still remains the same colour and shape. This can be done well in advance.
- Add some fish stock and butter, continue stirring constantly. Rice will now begin to whiten and expand. Do not overcook as you still want some ‘bite’ to it.
- Add salt cod, more butter and parmesan. (Nb for a silky, slightly slack finish, this is based on the amount of butter and parmesan it is finished with).
- Add spring onions and parsley – serve and eat immediately.
Fresh cod, like most white fish, will have a distinct fresh smell, be almost translucent and will leave no tacky residue when touched. For the best results and flavour for this dish, use a fat cube of cod with the skin left on and cook in an iron non stick skillet. Dry the cod on kitchen roll, heat pan until slightly smoking. Add a tiny bit of oil, put cod in skin side down, turn heat to medium and cook for 2 minutes until skin is crispy. Place in a medium hot oven for a further 4 minutes. Place back on the fire and turn cod over, add a knob of butter and coat the cod. Serve immediately.
Mussels – best sourced from cold, unpolluted waters. These days they have generally been degorged before purchase, so buy them day you want to serve them. Rinse in cold water – any open ones, tap on the sink, if they do not close – discard them.Remove hair and grit by giving a solid tug – this should NOT be done until just before you cook them. Rinse and drain.
Place in a smouldering pot with a tight fitting lid and a little water to generate steam. Nb The less depth of the mussels in a pot, the more evenly they cook. When the mussels are half open and the flesh is formed and just separated from shell, place quickly in a tray to cool – remove from shell, checking for any beard that may be left. Now pass the mussel juice through muslin cloth back onto the meat. When you add the mussels to the emulsified sauce, it should be done just a couple of seconds before the sauce is emulsified. Remove from heat, allow 30 seconds before serving to allow the meat to warm through without toughening the meat.