à l'Ostendaise

2021-09-19

Flemish: "Op Oostendse wijze" aka 'like they make it in Ostend, Belgium.'

This is a classic Belgian seafood recipe.
It is supposed to be prepared with the grey Northsea shrimp, which are not available in the US other than in some few specialty seafood stores or restaurants.

The flavor of the grey shrimp can be approximated by stir-frying the pink salad shrimp that you buy here in US until they shrink to half the size and get some color. It's still not as fine as the real Northsea shrimp, but a lot better than using the pink shrimp out of the bag.

Ostendaise sauce, cream-based

Apparently the good people from Ostend don't agree on how to prepare the sauce that bears the name of their city. There is a considerable variation in the online recipes, even in those from Flanders.

Some use shrimp only, others add mussels, others vegetables. The majority seems to prefer a liaison-type (eggs & cream) basis with shrimp.

Some whisk egg yolks in water & cream, or butter, others uses lobster bisque i.e. a tomato soup as basis which would be easier at preventing the sauce from breaking.

The recipe below describes both the butter and the cream procedure. There are a few differences.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for 3-4 cups:

2 egg yolks
1 tbsp. water
2 cups heavy cream
or 2 sticks butter, softened
up to 1 lb. salad shrimp
S&P

optional:

1 Knorr shrimp bouillon cube

Pic1: Ostendaise sauce, cream-based

Directions

2021-09-19

Pic2-4: Spanish-frying salad shrimp

Stir-fry the pink salad shrimp over high heat until they shrink to half the original size and get some darker color. It intensifies the shrimp flavor.
Optionally add a Knorr shrimp bouillon cube or other seasoning to taste..
Optionally add up to 1 cup dry white wine, reduce until nearly dry again.
Remove the shrimp from the fat with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Reserve the fat for the fish.

It's still not as fine as he Northsea shrimp, but a lot better than using the pink shrimp out of the bag.

cream-based sauce
This reminded me of the shrimp in cream sauce I've enjoyed many times in Chinese restaurants.
Big difference: I didn't add sugar to this one.

Pic5: egg yolks
Pic6: with water
Pic7: add heavy cream

Break the eggs. Separate the yolks in a mixing bowl.
Add 1-2 tbsp. water.
Whisk until the yolks start looking creamy ( = emulsion)
Add heavy cream in small quantities at a time and whisk.

Pic8: whisk
Pic9: add shrimp
Pic10: warm through

Whisk vigorously until the mixture looks creamy, a bit fluffed, like a thin mayonnaise, but without going anywhere close to stiff caps in whipped cream. I did use an electric whisk to speed this up.
Add the fried shrimp. Reserve some to use as garnish.
I did not add any other seasoning to the sauce. There was enough from the shrimp.
Warm through slowly over medium heat without boiling.
- Unless you take the time to reduce this at low temperature, the cream-based sauce will likely not be as thick as the butter-based one.
- Alternatively, keep whisking until the cream thickens further.

Ocean Perch à l'Ostendaise

The sauce Ostendaise is used with many different fish recipes. I happened to have some frozen ocean perch in the freezer.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for 2 servings:

1 lb. ocean perch fillets, frozen
S&P, seasoning
2 cups Ostendaise sauce

Pic11: ocean perch fillets à l'Ostendaise

Directions

2021-09-19

Pic12-14: ocean perch, pan-fried

pan-fried

Quick-thaw the fish, remove from the plastic and pat dry.
Meanwhile, reheat the oil used for the shrimp.
Cook the fish on both sides until fully cooked through 5-6 minutes.
This was skin-on ocean perch and the skin shrank a lot, making the fillets look like pretzels.
Remove from the fat and pat dry to remove excess oil.

poached or steamed:

Prepare a seafood stock by boiling discarded fish parts and vegetables.
Remove from the heat.
Coddle the fish in the fish stock while off the heat. This should only take minutes.
Plate the fish and roll up the fillets. Set them on their sides.

Pic15-17: served

finishing up:

Plate the fish.
Serve the sauce over and/or with the fish
Divide the reserved un-sauced shrimp as garnish on top..
Enjoy.

butter-based sauce

This is a derivative sauce of Hollandaise.
The hot water is necessary to keep the butter melted. This is only necessary if you use butter, not needed with cream.
I am not a great fan of Hollandaise, (too mayo-like to my taste) and prefer to use cream instead of butter.

Pic18+19: cod à l'Ostendaise (butter-based)
These pictures were posted in the fb group 'Belgian Cuisine' on 09/14/2021 by Mireille Staelens de Vries.

baked cod

Butter a baking tray.
Season the cod to taste (S&P, ...)
Add a small dab of butter on the filets.
Bake in preheated oven 200 C (400 F) for 15 minutes.

The sauce:

Set up a bain-marie double container with water that is hot enough to melt butter.
Do not boil the bain-marie. The sauce will break.
Whisk 2 egg yolks and a table spoon of water until creamy.
Start adding dabs of softened butter and keep whisking.
One you reach the quantity you need, add S&P to taste, lemon juice to taste and the shrimp, reserving some to be used as garnish.
Keep warm until needed

on the internet

internet pictures

Pic20: sole, cream-based sauce
Pic21: cassoulet (seafood stew with beans)
Pic22: sea bass, bisque-based sauce

butter-based sauce

on the internet

See also: Deming, NM gardens, animals and more and avemariasongs.org

See also: Deming, NM gardens, animals and more
and avemariasongs.org