Provencal Pike Dumplings

Hello !

Today I will share a recipe from my childhood. And I’m happy to share it just for this reason. 🙂

Let’s make Provencal pike dumplings.

I live close to the Sologne region where we are very lucky to have a lot of local productions, my friends often bring me back some of them. That’s how I ended up one day with two beautiful pikes, freshly fished. Virtual wink to Chef Christophe Hay who always cooks amazingly the Loire fishes…

After emptying the pikes, I removed the fillets and placed them in my freezer, I already had in mind to make Provencal pike dumplings…

Confinement time is the perfect moment to empty the freezer, and I found my pikes!!

I rushed to the Alain Ducasse cooking encyclopedia. The Chef shares a traditional recipe of pike dumplings from the 16th century!! Nothing less!

I took the dumpling making part, the Provencal sauce is a family recipe that I know by heart. 😉

The recipe isn’t very difficult, yet be careful about two points:

– first there are a few resting times, the recipe is made over 3 days (first day you make the panade, the next day the dumpling batter, then finally you will make the sauce and cook the whole dish)

– then the preparation of the pike flesh can be tricky, you will have to put it through a sieve in order to remove any kind of impurities (small bones, nerves, …).

I will be honest with you, you don’t have to make your own dumplings, your fish monger might sell some. Nevertheless, if you compare them with homemade dumplings, you will see that the taste is so much more delicate, you will really taste the pike, it’s delicious.

(Presentation: copper sauté pan Prima Matera by De Buyer)

The utensils:

A sauce pan with thick bottom for the panade,

A sieve or a thin potato masher,

A large bowl

And a large casserole (28 cm).

Let’s make Provencal pike dumplings!

The recipe, Chef!

Print Recipe

Provencal Pike Dumplings

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Serves: 6-8 Difficulty: Medium Price: $$

Prep Time: 1 heure – Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 1 kg pike fillets (for the dumplings)
• 100 g butter at room temperature (for the dumplings)
• 10 g flower salt (for the dumplings)
• Espelette pepper (for the dumplings)
• 250 g milk (for the panade)
• 50 g butter (for the panade)
• 125 g flour (for the panade)
• 4 eggs (for the panade)
• 400 g tomato pulp (for the sauce)
• 15 cl tomato sauce (for the sauce)
• 20 cl water (for the sauce)
• 200 g green olives w/o stones (for the sauce)
• 150 g canned Paris mushrooms (for the sauce)
• 1 onion (for the sauce)
• 1 garlic clove (for the sauce)
• Olive oil (for the sauce)
• Thyme (for the sauce)
• Rosemary (for the sauce)
• Paprika (for the sauce)
• Ground ginger (for the sauce)
• Curcuma (for the sauce)
• Espelette pepper (for the sauce)
• Salt (for the sauce)
• Pepper (for the sauce)

Instructions

1

Make the panade.

2

Boil the milk and butter in a sauce pan.

3

Add the flour and mix vigourously until you get an homogeneous mixture. Keep on heating and mixing to dry the panade.

4

Add, at low heat, the eggs one by one. Keep on heating and mixing to dry the panade.

5

Spread on a tray, cover with a cling film and set aside in your fridge for a day.

6

Make the dumplings.

7

Remove the pike, the panade and the butter from your fridge.

8

Mix the pike flesh and sieve (I used my potato masher).

9

Add the butter and panade little by little to the pike. You should get an homogeneous mixture.

10

Add flower salt and 3-4 pinches of Espelette pepper.

11

Cover with cling film and set aside in your fridge for 12 hours.

12

Make the Provencal sauce.

13

Pour 3-4 tablespoons olive oil in your cocotte. Medium heat.

14

Add the chopped onion and the grated garlic.

15

Pour the tomato pulp and sauce, add the water.

16

Add salt, thyme, rosemary, paprika, ground ginger, curcuma and Espelette pepper.

17

Rince the olives and add them to the sauce. Cover and cook at medium heat.

18

Shape the dumplings.

19

Spread flour on your working plan.

20

Place a large tablespoon of batter and roll it in the shape of a dumpling. Set aside.

21

Do so until you've used all the preparation.

22

Place gently the dumpling in your cocotte. Cook at low heat for 40 minutes.

23

Finally add pepper, adjust seasoning, add the rinced Paris mushrooms. Cook 5 more minutes and serve.