Escoffier On Line

I plan to serve 'Puff Pastry-wrapped salmon and Watercress Mousse" with Champagne-Chive Butter Sauce. The side dish recommended is Buttered New Potatoes. Tried the two dishes. The potatoes seemed too heavy and ordinary to accompany the salmon. Am considering a mashed potato, but it doesn't seem elegant enough. Any suggestions for side dishes? Thank you.

Oo your dish sounds nice!

How attached to these potatoes are you?

How about drop the potato use beetroot?

maybe something like a salad:
Stream the beetroot.
cube it.
maybe some pine nuts (not sure about that).
dress the beetroot in a nice fruit infused olive oil. (you can probably mold it now)
ooh feta, crumble some feta into it! (instead of just seasoning perhaps)..(maybe season also)
sprinkle some baby herbs.. actually baby beet shoots would be better.

The flavor should be mellow and slightly sweet, this might be ideal with your dish. Feta should complement the sweet. The oil will give depth to the subtly flavor and maybe even support a mold. Baby beet shoots dress up and contrast the salads striking deep red.

In my mind this sound awesome haha.

Anyway, I hope you found my post useful.

Thanks for the ideas! I like the idea of beets, especially golden beets, with feta. I did have the dinner party last night, before I saw your suggestion, and served two sides: mashed potatoes with caramelized onions and shallots which gave the potatoes an interesting sweetness and raised them above 'ordinary'. And served two roasted roma tomato halves on each plate. Tomatoes were a great accompaniment. Next time I'll try the beets & feta. Thanks!

You just blew my mind. I hazard sounding like a total amateur here, but I just way over enthusiastically punched "golden beets" into google.
I swear I have never seen these on New Zealand super market shelves!
And just Im starting my very first vege garden and I want them!

I like what you did to the potato too. would you do it again that way?


Do you make your own puff pastry? Its just I have an idea.
I know you can make an almond (or walnut or anything for that matter) puff pastry which I think might make you curious with regards to this dish.

If you are:
The way I did it was completely off the wall, which is good because you can totally make this your own.

This method worked perfectly for a sweet puff.
-Make an almond and frangelica creme anglaisse.
-Place it in the icecream machine
-Go and get distracted and laugh at some commis burning bread.
-Over-churn the ice-cream until its stuffed.
-Proceed to swallow your pride while being yelled at by Chef.
-Remove over-churned icecream from machine
-Make the fastest redemption creme anglaisse of your life (skip this step).
-While on the topic of redemption, place the over-churned ice cream in a hobart mixer and crank it till it separates.
-Strain through muslin. (save whey for expresso, not sure how it works with low fat content but it does. Something to do with the eggs in the anglaisse methinks.)
-Place in fridge.
-Chop your nutty butter into small cubes and make a rough puff.
-Make tata tans that make chef blush. (not relevant)

or something along those lines..

ok so seriously; if you decide to try this may I suggest making your own butter to carry the flavor into the pastry.

just a thought.
Im off to find me some golden beets.

Yes, I would make the potatoes again. To save time, I didn't caramelize the onions myself; I just mixed in a couple tablespoons of "Roasted Garlic Onion Jam" made by Stonewall Kitchen. www.stonewallkitchen.com/shop/speciality...jellies-butters.html

I probably will not make my own puff pastry -- but your idea of making a nut puff pastry does sound very intriguing.

If you are interested in the Watercress Mousse recipe -- it is spread on the salmon before wrapping it in puff pastry -- here is a link:

www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagas...s-recipe/index.html.

Glad to have introduced you to golden beets. Since you are starting a vegetable garden, you might also enjoy growing your own paprika (don't know if it is called the same thing in NZ.) Plant Kalocsa Pepper seeds. Harvest when dark red. Hang them in a clean dry place until dry -- several weeks or even months. Remove stems and seeds. Grind to a fine powder in food processor. Delicious in cream sauce over pork, chicken or veal. www.reimerseeds.com/kalocsa-sweet-peppers.aspx

Oh, and . . . I'm not a professional -- just a home cook who likes to cook and entertain.