New Year — Welcome 2016
We made a stuffed bread found in our Jacques & Julia cookbook, and it was added to with fresh vegetables, some stuffed mushrooms all as starters for this meal, that came to our dining room table for a light soup course, followed by an authentic Bavarian Pork Roast.
We relax following the pork with a great salad made by our salad master friend, Karen. Pat brought a variety of frosted brownies and we did stay up to midnight.
Seafood Bread – à la Jacques Pepin
from Jacques & Julia at Home
- 1 large, round country-bread loaf (about 1 1/2 pounds, and 11 to 12 inches in diameter), either homemade or store-bought
- ½ cup parsley
- ½ cup herbs (a mixture of basil, chives, and chervil)
- 3 large cloves garlic
- 4 tablespoons slivered almonds
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons dry white wine (2T if using liquor)
- 1 tablespoon Pernod (optional)
For the filling
- 5 ounces tuna, in 1-inch chunks
- 5 ounces haddock, in 1-inch chunks
- 5 ounces salmon, in 1-inch chunks
- 7 ounces squid, in 1-inch tubes
- 1/4 pound wild or white cultivated mushrooms
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1/4 dry white wine or vermouth
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Using a sharp knife, cut all around the top of the bread loaf, and remove the top or “lid” of the bread. Set this “lid” aside, to eat or use in another recipe. Then, measuring in about 3/4 inch from the edge of the loaf, cut down into and all around the loaf, taking care not to penetrate the bottom, to create a neat edge from which to remove the interior crumb. Twist the soft insides to loosen them, then pull them out, so you have a large receptacle or shell. If the insides of the bread are very soft, cut them into pieces and dry them briefly in the hot oven. Then place about half of the insides into the bowl of a food processor, and process to make 2’/2 to 3 cups of crumbs. Set these aside, and keep the remainder of the bread insides for another use. For the garlic-herb butter: Put the parsley, other herbs, and garlic in the food-processor bowl, and process until the mixture is chopped fine. Add the nuts, softened butter, salt, pepper, and white wine, and process until blended.
Using a large spatula, coat the inside of the hollow loaf with about a third of the garlic-herb butter. Cut the seafood into 1-inch pieces, and slice the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange inside the loaf, Jacques does the fish then mushroom then more fish. Add a layer of garlic-herb butter, then cover with the breadcrumbs pressing them into the butter, and finally moisten the breadcrumbs with the vermouth or wine. Place the filled bread loaf on a cookie sheet, and bake for about 1 hour. Let the bread rest for 10 minutes after it comes out of the oven, then cut it into large chunks, and serve immediately.