Potato Mousseline Food

POTATO MOUSSELINE

Steps:

• Peel potatoes and simmer in salted water to cover until tender, about 15 minutes. While potatoes cook, place cream in a small pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until reduced to about 2 cups.
• Place butter in small pan and heat until it just begins to brown and it smells nutty. Set aside.
• Drain potatoes and run through a food mill or ricer. Pass potatoes through a fine sieve into a bowl. (A splatter screen set over a bowl can work well. Move potatoes through screen with a plastic scraper.) Lightly fold in the cream.
• Reheat browned butter if needed. Swirl browned butter into potatoes. Top with several grinds of nutmeg and a sprinkling of fleur de sel.

LEAN BUT GOOD POTATOES

Steps:

• Peel potatoes, if desired, and cut into equal size pieces. Place potatoes in a large pot of cold salted water to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until tender.
• When potatoes begin simmering, heat olive oil in a small skillet with minced garlic and a sprig of rosemary or thyme. When the garlic is colored (not brown), about 2 to 3 minutes, remove from heat and set aside until potatoes are cooked.
• Drain potatoes and return to the cooking pot. Discard rosemary or thyme sprig, add olive oil and garlic mixture and mash, adding a bit more oil if you like. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve garnished with chives.

SEARED SEA SCALLOPS WITH EXOTIC MUSHROOMS, POTATO MOUSSELINE, FOIE GRAS BUTTER AND TRUFFLE VINAIGRETTE

Steps:

• For the foie gras butter: Combine the foie gras and 4 ounces of the butter in a food processor and puree. Transfer Foie Gras Butter to a small container, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
• For the wild mushrooms: Heat a large saute pan over a high heat (large enough to hold all the mushrooms in a single layer). Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and then the mushrooms. Cook over high heat until crispy around the edges -- approximately 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and let cool.
• For the potato mousseline: Place potatoes in a saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the flame to low and simmer until very tender. Drain immediately and place in a food mill (not a food processor) or potato ricer. Rice or work through the food mill, adding 1/4 pound of butter, stirring constantly. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of warm milk so that the puree is silky but not runny. Cover with plastic wrap and keep and keep warm over a double boiler.
• For the gremolata: Combine chopped parsley, lemon zest and garlic.
• Sear the scallops: Heat a saute pan over high heat. Season scallops with salt and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Sear the scallops until golden on one side, flip and then sear the other side. Remove from pan and keep warm.
• For the truffle vinaigrette: Combine truffle juice, port and the juice from the truffle peelings in a non-reactive saucepan. Reduce over medium-low heat until reduced by about 3/4 or until liquid is a thin syrup. Remove from heat and cool.
• Combine port - truffle reduction with vinegars and whisk in the oils. Set aside. This mixture will keep for 1 month in the refrigerator if it is tightly covered.
• For the assembly: In the center of 4 large plates place a dollop of the potato mousseline. Reheat the mushrooms and sprinkle with gremolata to taste. Arrange mushrooms around the potatoes. Drizzle the foie gras butter over and around the mushrooms. Drizzle the truffle vinaigrette on and around the mushrooms. Place 3 scallops on top of each of the mounds of potato mousseline.

TERRINE D'HOMARD MOUSSELINE (A MOLD OF SEA AND RIVER FOOD SET WITH CREAM AND EGGS)

Steps:

• Place the live lobster in a sink of blood heat water (it is at this temperature that scientists say that all edible shellfish die with the least discomfort). Remove from water and crack open and take out flesh (usually 5 ounces from a 1 1/2 pound lobster). Reserve the shell. Heat a serving platter in the warming oven - preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Put both pike and lobster flesh through a mincer with a very fine screen. Keep the flesh in a bowl set in another bowl of rice. Into a frying pan, place some clarified butter and add the onion and garlic clove - pop in the lobster shells and simmer gently. Add 1 ounce of brandy and set it alight. Pour in the 1 cup of dry white wine, cover and continue cooking over a low heat.
• Put the blanched mushrooms through the mincer and then add to the chilled fish flesh. Carefully blend in the 1 cup of whipping cream and season generously with freshly ground salt and pepper. Beat the 2 egg whites in a bowl and fold into the fish. Pour this mixture into 2 separate moulds and set them in a "bainmarie" (bath of hot water) and cover the molds with foil. Place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes - remove the foil after this period and cook uncovered for another 30 minutes. Strain the stock from the lobster shells, approximately 3/4 cup should be left, pour into a heated pan - increase the temperature and add the sliced tomatoes - simmer. Remove the baked fish molds from the oven and unmold onto the heated serving platter. Sieve the tomato stock mixture - pushing through as much tomato flesh as possible. Add the 2 egg yolks to the sieved stock (off the heat). Blend the arrowroot with the extra tablespoon of whipping cream and then add the mixture to the stock mixture for thickening. Return to the heat and allow the sauce to thicken - it shouldn't boil. Pour the sauce over the fish molds - dust with the chopped parsley and serve.

SCALLOP AND SOLE MOUSSELINES

Steps:

• Rinse scallops and sole and pat dry, then purée in a food processor until very smooth. Force purée through a fine-mesh sieve into a metal bowl, scraping bottom of sieve as needed.
• Set metal bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water, then add egg white to purée and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until well combined. Add cream 2 tablespoons at a time, stirring after each addition until incorporated. (Mousseline should be the consistency of soft mashed potatoes; if it becomes runny or separates, stop adding cream and chill mixture, covered - still in ice bath - until firmer, about 30 minutes. Then continue adding cream.) Cover bowl and chill mixture 8 hours.
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
• Cut out 10 rounds of parchment paper to line bottoms of molds and 10 rounds to line tops of molds, using 1 timbale mold as a guide. Brush molds with some melted butter and line bottom of each with a round of parchment. Chill molds 5 minutes (to set butter), then brush paper and sides of molds again with more melted butter.
• Stir salt, pepper, nutmeg, chives, and dill into mousseline, then divide among molds (they will be about two-thirds full). Rap molds on counter once or twice to settle mixture, then put a buttered parchment round, buttered side down, on surface of each mousseline. Put molds in an 8-inch square or round baking pan (2 inches deep) and bake in a hot water bath in oven until mousselines are just set and springy to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Cool mousselines in molds on a rack until warm, about 10 minutes, then invert onto a large plate and pat dry with paper towels before transferring to soup bowls.