Fish Aspic

This is a dish that my Mom always had on the table for Christmas Eve.   

Fish was delivered before Christmas to our village by a fisherman in the area.  I remember people picking out whole frozen fish from the back of his truck, ie Jack Fish, Pickerel and White Fish.   

White Fish

The fish was cleaned and cut into pieces.  The whole fish was used for the broth including the head.  The stock pot was filled with water and to this was added chopped celery, onion, chopped parsley, a bay leaf, salt and peppercorns.  Although, Jack Fish has lots of bones, it was the best for the broth to gel.   Once the fish was cooked, the fish was taken out, the bones and skin were removed and the cooked fish was placed in a dish or mold  The broth was then strained through muslin to assure a very clear broth.  Adjust the seasonings before pouring into the mold.

My Mom liked to add julienne carrots and celery to the mold.  The fish is chilled, then flipped over on to a bed of lettuce, decorated with lemon slices. Truly a beautiful dish!

The recipe I share is my memory of my Mom making this dish for Christmas Eve. 

A mixture of vegetables were chopped up and added first to the stock pot

• Carrot
• parsley chopped
• chopped onion
• bay leave
• peppercorn

After preparing this dish this year,  I realized that my Mom used carrots only a garnish.  As I have found out in making turkey gravy, carrots add sweetness that I do not like.  Also the carrots take away from the clarity of the broth. Something that my Mom was most particular about!  

 

Wash you fish well inside and outside with cold water.  Remove the fish scales with a serrated knife.  Make sure that you check carefully to remove all the scales.  Give another wash to remove any scales.

Cut into smaller pieces for the pot.  I was surprised how tough the fish was.

Place the Fish pieces on the vegetables

Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Skim the foam.  Reduce to simmer as soon as it comes to boil and simmer until fish fork tender. 

Carefully lift the pieces of fish from the broth.  Remove the the bones and  place in a mould. Strain the broth through a cheesecloth so that it is clear.  Taste for seasoning.   There should be enough gelatine from  the fish bones but; 

1-2 packages of plain gelatine* can be soaked in 1/3c cold water.  

Mix gelatine with hot broth

Pour over fish and chill. 

*gelatine is collagen in the skin, bones, and connective tissue of an animal which breaks down into gelatine.  For the purists at heart, skip this step but if you use fish pieces, it will not jell!  On the plus side, it does make a delicious fish soup aka bouillabaisse.

I did make two dishes and did freeze both for Christmas Eve.  

Ukrainian Christmas Eve, 2017

Something so special in celebrating Christmas Eve on Jan 6th.   The focus is no longer on gifts but on family, the symbolic meal and church.  So many memories of my grandparents family all attending regardless of the weather.  Their daughter, Mary and family in spite of over an hour driving time in sometimes very cold or blizzard conditions always made the trip to be with the family.  

This was my menu for Christmas Eve which is very much like my grandmother's but  I have added a Beet salad and Fish Balls. 

Christmas Eve 

Kolach

Kutia

Borscht with uszka

Herring

Marinated Mushroom
Platter of smoked tuna and salmon

Beets with Smoked Salmon, pickled radish, oranges, preserved lemons

Fish Balls 

Morel Mushroom sauce

Cabbage Rolls

Pyrohy,   Sauerkraut 

               Potatoes and Cheese

Platter of dried fruit, nuts and oranges

Pampusky

My Mom and grandmother served all the food at the same time, starting with Kutia.  I do it in stages, first the Kutia,  soup, then the appetizers followed by the main dishes.  Although, I am getting better in time management, I still find that I do not execute this meal as well as my mom did.  I do remember the Christmas Eve dinner at my grandmother, where everyone was sitting at the table with some hay underneath the table scattered on a bed sheet.  Candies were thrown into the hay for the children to find after the meal. 

The Kolach was made with the help of my grandkids! 

The traditional Kutia starts the meal following after singing "God Eternal"

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The mushroom filled tiny dumplings were cooked in water.  Cooking them like I did the first time I made them in the beet broth results in pretty pink dumplings! 

Borscht

This was my dish of food! 

The fish platter that I bought in Chester Nova Scotia was filled with delicious smoked tuna and salmon, a generous gift from son in law that he brought from British Columbia!  Pickled Radish and Red Onion garnished the fish! 

This is a mixture of marinated mushroom that were purchased at out Italian store.

My daughter and husband were here from Vancouver.  We all dressed up in Ukrainian clothing that have been embroidered by cousins in Western Ukraine. 

We ended the meal with freshly fried Pampusky filled with dried fruit!

At the same time in rural Manitoba, my aunt who is in her nineties also prepared this feast for her family.

Aunt Marion wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! 

Kutia 

Rice Noodle Rolls , traditional along with a new twist!

I have been trying to make the Rice Noodle Rolls for a while, watched many video on YouTube and tried the different methods demonstrated.

I have persevered as I have had success in making crepes, Nalysniki  although I have never been able to make the paper thin crepes my mom would make. 

To the amusement of the Vietnamese Lady that was giving me a pedicure and only after seeing a picture of the Rice Noodle Rolls that I had posted on Instragram, she recited her recipe which I wrote down.  She felt I was making the crepes too thick, more like the Chinese method of making these crepes. 

Rice Noodle Roll Batter

• 1 c Rice Flour
• 1 c Tapioca Flour
• 2 c warm water

Mix this together first, then add 

• 1 1/2 -2 c cold water
•     salt

Let the batter set for at least 10 minutes

Whisk before pouring as it does settle out

Heat the pan to medium heat, brush oil lightly with a paper towel*

Grease the top of the counter where you will flip the crepes when cooked  

Ladle a small amount into the heated pan to make a thin crepe
Swirl around to cover the whole pan

Cover with a lid to steam the crepe.

The crepes cooks quickly and should look translucent!

 




















Flip the crepe to the greased counter space or cutting board.

Work quickly to roll up the crepes with your filling.

Depending on the size of the roll, cut into 2 -3 pieces that are bite size.

I used two different skillets, one was a Teflon 9" and a Cast Iron 8".  The important thing is to have the pans at a correct heat and to lightly oil them with a paper towel.  If there is too much oil on your pan, the batter will not spread out well and if the pan is too cold the batter will stick. 

I used two different pans and found that the cast iron worked the best overall as it retained it's heat when taken of the heat to flip the crepes. 

If you are using a filling, like steamed shrimp or BBQ pork, the filling needs to be ready to go as the noodles stick together very quickly! 

Dipping sauce 

• 2 T soya sauce
• 2 T oyster sauce
• 1 T sugar
• 1/2 c water
• minced fresh ginger
• minced garlic

Since my grandkid was coming over after school for Piano practice, I saved some of the batter for my grandkid.  Since she doesn't  like shrimp, I decided to use canned apricots as a filling for this. The girls enjoyed this very much. The apricots had to be dried well before using in the noodle roll. 

The youngest who came later as her Mom had to work thought she was eating eggs!!

Korean Seafood Pancake

A picture of Korean Seafood Pancake caught my eye on Instagram and I made the dish last night for supper.  In check out the recipes, the recipes are very similar mainly flour with some rice flour.  The rice flour is easily purchased in the Asian section of  Superstore.   I find that the rice flour made the pancake tender and light, yet crispy. 

Batter

• I cup white flour 
• 2 T rice flour
• 2 T cornflour
• Salt and pepper
• Minced Garlic 
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 - 1 1/4 c icy water to make a light batter 

Whisk together, adding enough water so the consistency of cream.

Let sit, while you prepare the rest of the ingredients

• 1 egg beaten
• Variety of seafood, 
• green onions
• hot chilies, sliced

You can add your seafood into the batter

Some also added Kimchee to their pancake. 

I spread out the seafood out over the pancake and then drizzled half of the beaten egg on top.

Flip to cook the top seafood and egg.

Serve with;
Dipping Sauce

• 2-3 T soya sauce
• 1 Vinegar
• 2-3 T water
• chile flakes
• splash of Sesame Seed Oil
• chopped green onions

Poached egg on Asparagus with white sauce.

This had to be the most delicious lenten dish that was prepared this Lent.  With the arrival of pencil thin fresh asparagus from the states, we have been enjoying this vegetable very much. 

With fresh asparagus in the supermarket, this is a simple but an elegant dish full of spring flavors!  My husband requested this dish as his Mom made this as a lenten dish. His Mom would make a basic white sauce to top over the poached eggs. 

Since I was out of bread, I made pan fried bread from the Refrigerator dough I had previously. This is something my Mom did as she was waiting for her bread to proof. I loved this treat with Cheese Whiz or with some of her homemade jam.  As a kid, I loved how the spread or jam would melt on the hot bread. 

A White Sauce  was prepared for the dish.  Grated cheese can be added to the sauce, but this plain sauce works perfectly with poached egg and roasted asparagus. 

Although the asparagus my Mom in law used was canned, fresh asparagus was roasted for a few minutes in a toaster oven. The ends were snapped, a drizzle of olive oil, some grounded black pepper and baked for 4 minutes.    Delicious!

To this I added fresh spinach and smoked salmon.