Louisiana-Style Fish Courtbouillon
In classic French cooking, a court-bouillon is a clear, lightly flavored broth for poaching fish or vegetables. Like many French culinary terms, it takes on a somewhat different meaning in Louisiana — becoming a sort of fish stew with a tomato-flavored broth.
Fri, Feb 05 2010 at 1:37 PM EST
Louisiana-Style Fish Courtbouillon
Ingredients
- 1 white-fleshed fish such as rockfish or freshwater drum (gaspergou), 2 to 3 pounds
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 teaspoon whole allspice berries
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1⁄2 cup diced celery
- 1⁄2 cup diced green bell pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1⁄2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, or 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 1⁄4 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 3 sprigs parsley
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 can (15 ounces) peeled tomatoes
- 1 1⁄2 cups dry red wine
- 3 cups water
- 1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
- Kosher salt
- lemon juice
Time estimates
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 hr
Preparation
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Have the fish scaled and cut crosswise into 2-inch sections; reserve the head.
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Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.
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Add the flour and cook, stirring frequently to avoid scorching, until the roux is a rich medium brown.
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Add the allspice, diced vegetables, garlic, and herbs to the pot (carefully, so as not to spatter the hot roux) and stir to coat them with the roux.
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Cook for another 5 minutes, until the onion softens. Meanwhile, empty the tomato can into a bowl and chop the tomatoes coarsely with a spoon, or crush them in your hand.
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Add to the pot with the wine, water, cayenne, and a large pinch of salt.
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Add the fish head, bring just to a boil, and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.
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Remove the fish head. Taste the sauce for salt and adjust if necessary.
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Add the lemon juice, then slide in the fish pieces and cook at a simmer until the fish is tender when probed with a fork, about 10 minutes.
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Serve the fish in deep plates or soup bowls, with sauce spooned over each portion.
Yield
Serves 4
Good to know
For a really authentic courtbouillon, we can use the same kind of fish that southern cooks use. Gaspergou is the Louisiana name for a good-sized freshwater drum (a relative of the more famous redfish as well as our white seabass) fished commercially in much of the Midwest and South. Between Americans from the South and certain Asian ethnic groups that favor freshwater fish, there is a steady market for this fish in many parts of the West, and we import it by the ton from the Mississippi Delta. In fact, this silvery, hump-backed, blunt-nosed fish is often easier to find as whole fish than anything from local waters. However, you can certainly make this dish with local rockfish, lingcod, cabezon, or any other white-fleshed fish.
Which beer should I drink with this?
Pale lager.
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The Microbrew Lover’s Cookbook From The Microbrew Lover’s Cookbook, Copyright © 2002 by Jay Harlow. Used by arrangement with Jay Harlow.
Photo: Shoot Art, Not Each Other/Flickr
Comments
Christine
10/22/2010 16:47 PM
My mother and her mother and her mother cooked this in louisiana the same way with a little twist we put it over rice we take the meat of the fish head and use butter and olive oil and other secret spices i cannot reveal.
