flipPike with Green Sauce
Pike with Green Sauce
Why this dish? Legend says that Mélusine, every Saturday, took her bath and her body turned into a water serpent from the waist down. Freshwater fish — and the pike, lord of the rivers of Poitou — rightfully belongs to her: a creature of the waves for a fairy of the springs.
A pike poached then coated with a bright green sauce of fresh herbs, bound with bread and brightened with verjuice and ginger. Served on meager days, when meat was forbidden.
Now draw near, and fear not my serpentine part. On Saturdays, when the water reclaims me, I know better than any lady in the world which fish haunt my rivers of Lusignan. This pike, my men pull alive from the Vonne, then poach it in short coat; and over it I want this green sauce, ground of herbs in a mortar and enlivened with verjuice, for sweet without sour is not worthy of a fairy's table. Taste: it is the very water of my domain that you bring to your mouth.
- •Freshwater pike — a fine fish (centerpiece, meager day)
- •Parsley and other green herbs — a good handful (color and freshness of the sauce)
- •Breadcrumbs soaked in verjuice — as needed (thickener for the sauce)
- •Verjuice — to taste (acidity)
- •Ginger — a pinch (warming spice)
- •Salt — to taste (seasoning)
Pike with Green Sauce
A pike poached then coated with a bright green sauce of fresh herbs, bound with bread and brightened with verjuice and ginger. Served on meager days, when meat was forbidden.
Why this dish? Legend says that Mélusine, every Saturday, took her bath and her body turned into a water serpent from the waist down. Freshwater fish — and the pike, lord of the rivers of Poitou — rightfully belongs to her: a creature of the waves for a fairy of the springs.
Now draw near, and fear not my serpentine part. On Saturdays, when the water reclaims me, I know better than any lady in the world which fish haunt my rivers of Lusignan. This pike, my men pull alive from the Vonne, then poach it in short coat; and over it I want this green sauce, ground of herbs in a mortar and enlivened with verjuice, for sweet without sour is not worthy of a fairy's table. Taste: it is the very water of my domain that you bring to your mouth.
Ingredients (period version)
- Freshwater pike — a fine fish (centerpiece, meager day)
- Parsley and other green herbs — a good handful (color and freshness of the sauce)
- Breadcrumbs soaked in verjuice — as needed (thickener for the sauce)
- Verjuice — to taste (acidity)
- Ginger — a pinch (warming spice)
- Salt — to taste (seasoning)
Ingredients
- Pike fillets or steaks (or zander, or trout) — 600 g (poached fish)
- Flat-leaf parsley — 1 large bunch (green base)
- Chervil + a little mint — a few sprigs (freshness)
- Country breadcrumbs — 2 slices (binder)
- Verjuice (or substitute grape juice + lemon juice) — 5 cl (acidity)
- Ground ginger — 1/2 tsp (spice)
- Salt — 1 tsp (seasoning)
Method
- Gently poach the fish in lightly salted simmering water for 8 to 10 minutes, until the flesh flakes. Keep warm.
- Soak the breadcrumbs in verjuice.
- In a mortar (or blender), grind the washed herbs with the soaked bread until a green paste forms.
- Thin with a little of the cooking water to a coating consistency; season with ginger and salt.
- Arrange the fish, coat with the green sauce (cold or lukewarm). Do not boil the sauce to keep its bright color.
How it was made : Green sauce appears in the *Viandier* attributed to Taillevent (14th century): parsley, sometimes sorrel or sage, was ground with bread and verjuice. Pike was the noble fish par excellence, reserved for seigneurial tables. 'Meager' days (Friday, Saturday, Lent) required fish instead of meat.
The contemporary twist : A drizzle of green olive oil and a few watercress shoots to evoke Mélusine's springs; serve the pike on a wet slate like a river stone.
Sources : Le Viandier de Taillevent (XIVe s.) · Le Ménagier de Paris (v. 1393)
Melusine · Charactorium
