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John Dory

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John Dory

Postby BelgianEndive » Mon Mar 16, 2015 4:48 pm

Good afternoon all.

On Saturday I went a bit wild at the market, in particular at the fishmonger's. He had one John Dory (Saint Pierre here ;) ) which I bought as well as super fresh tuna, a back of cod and huge prawns. The John Dory weighed about 2kg so I had the fillets lifted and they each weighed about 800g.
I prepared one on Saturday, just pan fried in butter with some Halen Mon salt. I made some heavy cream with curry and colombo and small steamed potatoes. The second fillet is in the freezer with the rest.

What is your favourite way of preparing a John Dory fillet and what to accompany it? :)

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Re: John Dory

Postby Sakkarin » Mon Mar 16, 2015 5:08 pm

Never ever seen it on sale, it's on my list of "must try one day", as most seriously cheffy books seem to have a John Dory recipe in them :-(

EDIT:...although I suspect it would be too expensive for me anyway, other than for a one-off trial.

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Re: John Dory

Postby jeral » Mon Mar 16, 2015 6:15 pm

The only time I've seen a John Dory was a little titch in a tropical fish aquarium shop.

Yours sounds huge. But more importantly, you don't say what you thought of it...?

Like Sakkarin, chances of trying any are probably remote. I read a while back that there are some very good fishing waters off the coast of France, which are probably outside UK-allowed zone and I doubt France exports their "good stuff" like Brtain seems to due to no demand at home.

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Re: John Dory

Postby Gillthepainter » Mon Mar 16, 2015 7:19 pm

Oooo how lovely.
I've made it as fillets, but never bought it whole, Elisa. I love the sound of your colombo spices, curry and a little gentle cream added.

If I pan fry fish, I rub it over with evoo, salt and pepper it. Into a dry pan (ie pan fry).

I once made john dory with rosemary that I really liked. Hardly any "pines", just 4 or 5.
Very gently aromatic.
Can't for the life of me remember what I served it with though.

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Re: John Dory

Postby BelgianEndive » Mon Mar 16, 2015 7:32 pm

Hi Sakkarin, it isn't often on sale here either. I recognize the fish because of the round disc on the sides and it was the first time since a long while that I saw one. They only had one, probably because they wouldn't sell a lot of it either. It is like turbot, when they have it, they have just one or two. Turbot here is a little more expensive than the John Dory which was at 39€/kg and you lose quite a bit when you just use the fillets. I also had a nice pouch of eggs which I fried with the fillet. Too bad you are so far away, I'd invite you to have a bite :D

Hi Jeral, indeed I didn't say how I liked it! Silly me :oops: It was wonderful. To be honest I "borrowed" the recipe of the same fish that we sometimes eat at a restaurant on the Seine not far from us. It is a fish restaurant and they usually have both the turbot and the John Dory on the menu. They fry the fillets and serve a creamy sauce with exotic spices (that is how they call it!), so I just made a creamy sauce with colombo and curry and it goes extremely well with the fish. As for the provenance of the fish I asked the fishmonger and it came from Bretagne and they always have excellent fish there.

If you can lay your hands on a fillet one day I certainly recommend it, the fish is absolutely wonderful.

I was after another idea for the preparation of the second fillet, hence my question, like maybe an oven dish without drying out the fish of course :D

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Re: John Dory

Postby BelgianEndive » Mon Mar 16, 2015 7:38 pm

Hi Gill. Yep about the same except I fried it in butter as I sometimes do with turbot fillets too.

Interesting a tad of rosemary would probably perfume it nicely, thank you for that lovely idea. When you make it next, give a try to the mild exotic spices, I think you'd enjoy that.

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Re: John Dory

Postby Lusciouslush » Mon Mar 16, 2015 7:44 pm

weird - I typed out a reply & it's disappeared.....!

John Dory is my favourite fish Elisa, & that's saying something as I like most fish - my father loved it too & introduced me to it when I was very young. You don't see it for sale too often, but my cranky fishmonger knows how much I love it & will get it for me, or they sometimes have it over at the huts at Newhaven.

Not much help to you, but the flesh is so sweet I like it just very plainly cooked so the flavour can sing out - I usually have it filleted so it just needs flouring & a quick panfry. Actually, I prefer most fish simply cooked - I bought hake yesterday intending to have it atop of a chorizo/chickpea/tomato sauce which is what I usually do with cod, but in the end it was plainly fried with lemon & parsley butter & new pots & mangetout to go with :thumbsup

Now - I also bought fresh salmon for later in the week which I oven cook, usually with fennel or an Asian topping - any other lovely ideas out there......?

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Re: John Dory

Postby Pampy » Mon Mar 16, 2015 7:54 pm

I used to have a brilliant local fishmonger who regularly had John Dory (also called St Peter's fish here - the spots on the side are supposed to represent St Peter's fingerprints). I like it just pan-fried and served with a Rick Stein recipe cream sauce, made with vermouth and thickened with butter. Mmmm... Unfortunately, like many independent shops in my part of the world, he closed down about 3 years ago.

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Re: John Dory

Postby BelgianEndive » Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:03 pm

Hi Lush. I can well believe it! For me it is a toss up between the Saint Pierre and the turbot and I always make them very simple too. I feel that as long as you serve sauce or vegetables on the side, it is up to each person to spoon it on to taste ;)

Now as for the salmon, there is a hearty fish that can do with zingy cooking! I mostly make mine in packages. Fold four sides of the foil up, 1 tbsp olive oil, chopped shallot and chopped fresh ginger, a splash of soya sauce, a good squeeze of lime, infusion of lemongrass (2tbsp), lay the salmon on top, halve cherry tomatoes and line them up along the sides of the salmon, sprinkle a liberal amount of chopped fresh coriander over it, smoked salt and pepper. Close the packages, put in hot oven (220°) for 10 to 15 min depending on how thick they are. Serve with steamed potatoes. Slurp. :yum

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Re: John Dory

Postby BelgianEndive » Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:53 pm

Pampy wrote:I used to have a brilliant local fishmonger who regularly had John Dory (also called St Peter's fish here - the spots on the side are supposed to represent St Peter's fingerprints). I like it just pan-fried and served with a Rick Stein recipe cream sauce, made with vermouth and thickened with butter. Mmmm... Unfortunately, like many independent shops in my part of the world, he closed down about 3 years ago.


Oh Pampy what a shame that your fishmonger closed down. I don't know what I would do if mine upped and left! :shock: Interesting that you also call it the St Peter's fish. The only name it has in French is Saint Pierre. The Rick Stein sauce sounds very nice and I might have a go at that one. I'll ask OH if he has a bottle of Vermouth in the bar cabinet! Thank you for mentioning it. :thumbsup

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Re: John Dory

Postby Dena » Mon Mar 16, 2015 11:50 pm

Fishmongers are becoming as rare as hen's teeth in my part of the UK Elisa - and parts of Kent are by the sea :shock: . Rather than buy fish from a supermarket I now buy my fish from on line fishmongers where the fish is often frozen at sea. Sounds ridiculous but I think it is fresher.

This is one of the on line fish suppliers I use. They sell John Dory (also rascasse - handy for an authentic bouillibaisse)

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Re: John Dory

Postby karadekoolaid » Tue Mar 17, 2015 11:21 am

The best John Dory I ever had was in Italy.
The sauce was diced, deseeded tomatoes, lightly poached in garlicky olive oil, then a few capers and a squeeze of lemon juice added. Finished with a sprinkling of parsley. I've never tasted better!

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Re: John Dory

Postby Pampy » Tue Mar 17, 2015 1:37 pm

BelgianEndive wrote:
Pampy wrote:I used to have a brilliant local fishmonger who regularly had John Dory (also called St Peter's fish here - the spots on the side are supposed to represent St Peter's fingerprints). I like it just pan-fried and served with a Rick Stein recipe cream sauce, made with vermouth and thickened with butter. Mmmm... Unfortunately, like many independent shops in my part of the world, he closed down about 3 years ago.


Oh Pampy what a shame that your fishmonger closed down. I don't know what I would do if mine upped and left! :shock: Interesting that you also call it the St Peter's fish. The only name it has in French is Saint Pierre. The Rick Stein sauce sounds very nice and I might have a go at that one. I'll ask OH if he has a bottle of Vermouth in the bar cabinet! Thank you for mentioning it. :thumbsup

There's still a fishmonger on the local market and his fish is quite good but he usually only stocks what I call the standard fish - cod, salmon, hake, mackerel, halibut, sole, plaice etc. He does occasionally have something different but rarely more than once - I suspect that there's just not the call for it round here.

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Re: John Dory

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Mar 17, 2015 10:02 pm

Ha! As we're talking fish, in a loft clearout I found a fishy piccy/poster I drew back in my arty days which I'm now using as my avatar. Sorry Dena, another fishboney avatar!

Image

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Re: John Dory

Postby BelgianEndive » Tue Mar 17, 2015 11:59 pm

Dena wrote:Fishmongers are becoming as rare as hen's teeth in my part of the UK Elisa - and parts of Kent are by the sea :shock: . Rather than buy fish from a supermarket I now buy my fish from on line fishmongers where the fish is often frozen at sea. Sounds ridiculous but I think it is fresher.

This is one of the on line fish suppliers I use. They sell John Dory (also rascasse - handy for an authentic bouillibaisse)


It is happening in a lot of places Dena. We are very lucky here, as we have several excellent fishmongers, all buying at Rungis of course ;)
The main thing is that you do have access to good fish and of course when it is frozen at sea it'll be just fine!

Hi Clive. I've always had excellent fish in Italy. And I have a very similar sauce as well that I make and it is delicious!

Pampy having those fish is already very good as opposed to supermarket stuff I should think.

Sakkarin! Hidden talents :clap You had a good "coup de patte", you're not drawing anymore?

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Re: John Dory

Postby Sakkarin » Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:01 am

I cheated - I actually drew it really tiny with an incredibly fine rotring pen (about the size of a thumbnail), and blew it up photographically to get that "distressed" look. I did a fair amount of illustrative bits and pieces in my graphic design years, and had a particularly prolific spate in the early 90s when I did a lot of commercial illustration for magazines, when there were not many people doing digital art. I found it took me too long to be profitable though, so I gave it up, although I had some fun doing it.

I don't really do anything these days, I get my creative kick from faffing around in Photoshop, as per my piccy in the "boiled egg" thread - and of course through cookery too...

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Re: John Dory

Postby Gillthepainter » Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:55 am

And it makes an excellent avatar too, probably due to the process you've described.
Shame to have to give it up though, Sakkarin. You should pick it (a pencil) up again.

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Re: John Dory

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Mar 20, 2015 1:06 pm

It certainly makes a great avatar :clap

Wish I could draw my own but I just can't

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Re: John Dory

Postby Lusciouslush » Fri Mar 20, 2015 3:48 pm

I'd recognise you anywhere Sakkaroosi.......!!!!

Elisa, thanks for your recipe for the salmon - they're defrosting as I type & I'll give the little packages a whirl tonight..... :thumbsup

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Re: John Dory

Postby Dena » Fri Mar 20, 2015 4:22 pm

Brilliant avatar Sakkarin, clever you. Silly as it sounds, I find fish skeletons really attractive. Must be a throw back to my childhood, when in cartoons cats always managed to find one.

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