The Befuddled Canuck Cooks

Like many people, particularly people with families (read small children) we try to come up with a meal plan for the week, and like many of those people, those plans go to hell in a hand basket at least half the time.

We receive our giant pile of flyers every Thursday and tend to base our core buying decisions on what’s on sale that week, so if cod is on at Farm Boy for $4.99/lb that week (they do not this week so don’t get too excited), odds are the meal plan includes fish that week. If the Real Canadian Superstore has anything at all in their weekly flyer odds are it won’t be in stock so I’ll need a plan B but you get the picture (sorry for that little vent, last week I had 5 things on my shopping list and not a single one had evidence of getting acquainted with a store shelf any time that week).

The last few days have turned into one of those ‘meal plan goes to hell’ weeks, get home to late from swimming lessons to make the dinner you had planned on Sunday, Monday get invited out for dinner so by Tuesday you are looking at a fridge with fresh produce, meat and fish all nearing the end of their “Sweetie, do you think the fish is still good?” life expectancy.  To that point, some of my favourite meals are based on the need to use ingredients rather than the advanced plan to do so.

Last night I had a blast in the kitchen emptying the fridge, I had a few fresh trout fillets, a half dozen quails and some carrots that all needed to be used before they either went bad or got vacuum sealed and tossed in the freezer.

In an effort to turn the trout into more of a side dish, I made a mousseline out of it that was a far superior effort to my first attempt at a similar process.  The ingredients are simple, fresh firm fleshed fish, 1 or 2 eggs, salt and pepper and some cream.  The first time I tried my hand at this I followed a recipe, big mistake.  It suggested throwing everything into the food processor and whizzing until it’s done.  In reality it’s just as easy just not as simple.

• Start by blending the fish in the food processor.
• Add the eggs and seasoning and blend until well incorporated (at this point it will have a very firm texture.
• Slowly add cream while blending until you get to your desired consistency (that of a very thick yogurt works well.

I ended up preparing it in two ways, method one was to put the mixture in ramekins and cook at 350 in a bain-marie, my second prep was to form quenelles and cover with a penko breading and pan frying them.

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