Carpe à la Juive, Sauce Verte
Carp, originally from China, were unknown west of the Rhine until the middle decades of the thirteeth century, when the French started farming fish in ponds. They used holding tanks for live storage in a world without refrigeration or canning methods and in areas that had no access to the sea. Said to have been brought to France by Jews, carp became the most popular fish in Europe during the Middle Ages, and the Sabbath fish par excellence for the Jews of Alsace-Lorraine, in eastern France. Carpe à la juive, or “carp in the Jewish style,” as described above in C. Asserolette’s charming “letters” to a friend in which she recounted watching the preparations for a Rosh Hashanah dinner in an Alsatian home in Paris, is poached in advance and served cold. The evolution of the sauces used for this weekly fish reflects the culinary and cultural continuity of the Jewish people. In medieval France and southern Germany two sauces were very popular: the sweet-and-sour sauce (see preceding recipe) and this green parsley sauce, still used today in many homes at Passover. The green sauce is a simple one, often made with ginger, parsley, bread crumbs, and vinegar. Today few people in France except Jews use carp, since there are so many more poissons nobles (noble fish), as one Frenchman told me. Whatever fish you choose—carp, grouper, salmon, sea bream, pike, or cod—you can, for ease of preparation, use fillets or slice the fish into steaks, cook them on a bed of sautéed onions, then poach them in water and wine. When they are done, you may reduce the cooking liquid and pour it over the fish slices, arranged on a platter to resemble the whole fish, and serve the dish cold or at room temperature.
Recipe information
Yield
6 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Rinse the fish under cold water, and dry it off.
Step 2
Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized frying pan. Add the onions, shallots, fennel, leek, garlic, and ginger, and sauté without browning for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the flour or matzo meal with a whisk, and cook until it browns slightly.
Step 3
Put the vegetable mixture in a heavy casserole or fish poacher large enough to hold the fish fillet in one piece. Add the wine, bay leaf, thyme, salt and freshly ground pepper to taste, the fish stock or water, and 2 tablespoons of the parsley. Bring to a boil, and simmer for about 20 minutes over medium heat. Gently lower the fish into the casserole or poacher, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until just cooked.
Step 4
Leaving the liquid in the pan, gently lift out the fillet and put it on a serving platter. Over high heat, reduce the liquid by half. Correct the seasoning, and pass the liquid through a fine sieve over the fish. Let the fish cool, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve cold, sprinkled with the remaining chopped parsley and accompanied by grated horseradish.
