For ➍750 g white fish fillet*
1 tbs minced shallot
25 cl white wine & water**
1 tbs olive oil
50 g soft butter
50 g flour
1 tbs chopped parsley
salt & pepper
4 toasts, buttered
Mix butter and flour into a beurre manié. Cut into small chunks and set aside.
Bring water and wine to a boil. Put fish, shallot, salt & pepper in. Cook on high heat for 5 m, stirring with a wooden spoon to flake the fish.
(Be sure to have the liquid evaporated.)
Off heat, add the beurre manié.
Return to heat for 2 m.
Add parsley.
Pile onto 4 buttered warm toasts***.
Serve with a glass of Muscadet white wine.****
*The original 1920's recipe used rinsed salt cod. All firm white fish will do.
**Use cider instead. Start with a smaller amount, so the liquid evaporates within 5 m.
***Add a little anchovy paste on the bread before putting the fish on.
****Serve with potatoes or rice instead.
*****Use ¼ of quantities to make an individual quick toast.
*****Serve with sliced coeur de boeuf tomatoes for a full lunch.
French writer Marcel Boulestin turned restaurateur in 1911 when he opened a classy French restaurant in London's Covent Garden. In the interbellum, he became one of the first media celebrity chefs, appearing in a, still experimental, BBC television broadcast in 1937. He wrote for Vogue and published several best selling cook books with free adaptations of French recipes, which were served in his art deco revamped restaurant. His influence was still felt in the 1970's when Georgina Horley quoted this recipe in her popular Good food on budget.
