‘Choucroute’ of Fish
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 8tablespoons (1 stick) butter
- 2cups rye-bread cubes
- 1pound sauerkraut, rinsed and drained
- 4ounces chopped smoked ham or slab bacon
- 1teaspoon juniper berries, crushed
- 1teaspoon caraway seeds
- 1teaspoon fresh thyme, or ½ teaspoon dried
- 3bay leaves
- 1cup white wine, not necessarily bone-dry
- ½ to ¾pound white-fleshed fillet, like halibut
- ½ to ¾pound smoked trout or haddock
- ½ to ¾pound skinned salmon
- Salt and pepper
- 1shallot, minced
- ½cup cream
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 300. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Put the rye-bread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet, and toss with the melted butter. Bake, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, put the sauerkraut, ham, juniper, caraway, thyme, bay leaves and all but 2 tablespoons of the wine in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When the mixture bubbles, lower the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes. Lay the fish on top, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cover the pot. The fish will be tender in about 10 minutes.
- Step 3
As the fish cooks, put the shallot and the remaining 2 tablespoons wine in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until the liquid has almost evaporated, about 5 minutes. Turn the heat to low, and stir in the cream. Add the remaining butter, a little bit at a time, stirring constantly. Once the mixture is creamy, stir in the lemon juice and some salt and pepper; keep the mixture warm over the lowest possible heat.
- Step 4
When the fish is tender, spoon it and the sauerkraut onto a platter; pour the sauce over all, scatter the croutons on top and around, garnish with the parsley and serve.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
I cooked the canned sauerkraut with apples, white wine and onions beforehand. Recipe from Epicurious. It made an amazing difference! And double the sauerkraut, at least.
Delicious recipe. Fairly easy to make in 1 hour. Toast the croutons in a pan to avoid using the oven. Also, you can crisp up the fish in the same pan which you used for the croutons. If you do this, then it's easier to serve as the sauerkraut should go on the bottom of the plate with the fish on top. Only the dutch oven and sauté pan to wash out.
Really different, tasty. I was surprised that my husband liked it as much as I did. For leftovers, we toasted a piece of (pumpernickel) bread per person, spooned the mix onto it, and preferred that to the bread cubes, which is fussy. Also didn't need the extra butter used on the cubes. Cream made it a bit heavy for my belly, so I'll use nondairy milk next time. Vegan butter worked fine in the sauce (dairy doesn't digest well here), and I used less than indicated. It made at least 6 portions.
I have made this recipe a couple of times, each time adapting it a bit for my guests. For my Alsatian in-laws I seasoned with goose fat, an onion with five whole cloves, and added smoked pork (all traditional in Alsace) in addition to smoked and fresh salmon and served with potatoes both times instead of croutons. Delicious both times and great reviews. I agree that salting more is not really necessary, except a little on top of the fish as it cooks.
The bacon and the smoked fish are both very salty. This recipe advises adding salt TWICE. I would not, or I would salt very lightly. We also had rice with it instead of croutons because that's what we had. It was still a great dish.
This dish is delicious as written. I followed other notes and added 4 small Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled and quartered. Next time I’ll make the cream sauce during the 40 minute simmer stage so I can keep an eye on the fish. This was more like 6 serving than 4. I’m looking forward to the leftovers.
This was very tasty and I liked the ease of preparation. I had ordered smoked haddock from Stonington Seafoods, and additionally used salmon and halibut. I had hoped for a thicker sauce, but since the cream was not reduced before adding the butter, it stayed quite thin. Very good recipe as often from Mark Bittman.
I cooked the canned sauerkraut with apples, white wine and onions beforehand. Recipe from Epicurious. It made an amazing difference! And double the sauerkraut, at least.
As suggested in one of the comments below I added peeled and quartered patatoes to the choucroute. All my guets loved the dish for its creamy sauce and delicious flavors (particularly the juniper). Fish was flavor wise not "overpowered" at all by Choucroute which was my only sceptical thought when planning to prepare this recipe.
Delicious recipe. Fairly easy to make in 1 hour. Toast the croutons in a pan to avoid using the oven. Also, you can crisp up the fish in the same pan which you used for the croutons. If you do this, then it's easier to serve as the sauerkraut should go on the bottom of the plate with the fish on top. Only the dutch oven and sauté pan to wash out.
Excellent. Instead of laying fish on top of sauerkraut and steaming it, pan sautee it until golden on top and serve it with roasted potatoes. Place salmon on top of sauerkraut before serving.
Sour taste of sauerkraut marries quite well with the salmon. Make sure you rinse sauerkraut well.
I also added three peeled, halved Yukon Gold potatoes to the Dutch Oven.
Really delicious!
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