Slow-poached Pacific Halibut Cheek, Cauliflower Remoulade, Turnip, Sweet Potato, Sunchoke, Garlic, Red & Purple Fingerling & Yellow Beet Chips, Piment D'Argent Fontaine
There is a type of pepper grown in the Basque Region of France that is so unique and so important to it's people that it is protected under AOC law. This means that it's name "Piment D'Espelette", meaning simply "Pepper of Espelette", my not be used anywhere else except for this small area of the world. The Basque people use this pepper in place of black pepper in many dishes and it is used to rub the famous Bayonne Hams. The pepper I used in this dish, and that you will probably be seeing a lot of, was not grown in France. It was grown in Silver Spring, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The seeds are the very same as the one's planted in Espelette though. And it's flavor is almost exactly as it's famous French relative, smoky with almost a hint of dark cocoa powder to it.
These Halibut cheeks came from a fish which was caught with a rod and reel by a fisherman on board the fishing vessel F/V Kristina in the Pacific waters of Alaska. So if they ever happen to come by this post this is a big shout-out to them. I lightly covered the cheeks with salt and let them marinate in the fridge for about 2 hours. I removed them and rinsed them. I slow-poached them in butter for roughly 12 minutes til they were cooked through. I removed and drained them on paper towels before dusting them with the ground chili powder.
The whole peppers had been hung and air dried when I bought them. I dried them further in a very low oven with the door partially opened which drew out more of their flavor and aroma. Once cooled I ran them through a spice grinder to pulverize them into a powder.
To make the cauliflower remoulade I started out by oven roasted some cheddar cauliflower. I cut it into small pieces and combined it with oil, salt, saffron, whole eggs and crushed garlic. I mixed it with a stick blender to make a mayonnaise. To finish it I folded in chopped shallot and pickled purple cauliflower.
The root vegetables were all sliced thinly with a mandolin. They were all fried in individual batches and lightly seasoned with salt.
Product:
Sustainable Alaskan Halibut Cheeks - Otolith Seafood, Caught aboard the F/V Kristina
Organic Cheddar and Purple Cauliflower - Culton Organics
Organic Garlic - Culton Organics
Organic Beaurogard Sweet Potato - Culton Organics
Organic Jerusalem Artichoke (Sunchoke) - Culton Organics
Organic Red and Purple Fingerling Potatoes - Happy Cat Farm
Organic Yellow Beets - Weaver's Way Farm
Organic "Piment D'Argent Fontaine" - Culton Organics
These Halibut cheeks came from a fish which was caught with a rod and reel by a fisherman on board the fishing vessel F/V Kristina in the Pacific waters of Alaska. So if they ever happen to come by this post this is a big shout-out to them. I lightly covered the cheeks with salt and let them marinate in the fridge for about 2 hours. I removed them and rinsed them. I slow-poached them in butter for roughly 12 minutes til they were cooked through. I removed and drained them on paper towels before dusting them with the ground chili powder.
The whole peppers had been hung and air dried when I bought them. I dried them further in a very low oven with the door partially opened which drew out more of their flavor and aroma. Once cooled I ran them through a spice grinder to pulverize them into a powder.
To make the cauliflower remoulade I started out by oven roasted some cheddar cauliflower. I cut it into small pieces and combined it with oil, salt, saffron, whole eggs and crushed garlic. I mixed it with a stick blender to make a mayonnaise. To finish it I folded in chopped shallot and pickled purple cauliflower.
The root vegetables were all sliced thinly with a mandolin. They were all fried in individual batches and lightly seasoned with salt.
Product:
Sustainable Alaskan Halibut Cheeks - Otolith Seafood, Caught aboard the F/V Kristina
Organic Cheddar and Purple Cauliflower - Culton Organics
Organic Garlic - Culton Organics
Organic Beaurogard Sweet Potato - Culton Organics
Organic Jerusalem Artichoke (Sunchoke) - Culton Organics
Organic Red and Purple Fingerling Potatoes - Happy Cat Farm
Organic Yellow Beets - Weaver's Way Farm
Organic "Piment D'Argent Fontaine" - Culton Organics