Crispy, fluffy, flaky puff pastry and a rich, warm ragoût, what better way to turn leftovers into a tasty starter. Bouchée a la Reine: a classic in Belgium and France. Not modern at all, but such fun to serve (and eat). The Bouchée a la Reine goes back to the days of Queen Marie Leszcynska, wife of King Louis XV. The story is that she tried to win back the attention of her husband (who was more interested in Madame de Pompadour) with these delicious small pastries. She assumed they would work as an aphrodisiac. One of her chefs (Nicolas Stohrer, also founder of the oldest patisserie in Paris) is probably the creator of Bouchée a la Reine (and Baba au Rhum by the way).
Enough history: you could fill the pastry with fish, poultry, mushrooms, sweetbread, just about anything will go, as long as you use a rich roux as basis.
Our ragoût combines fish with (common) shrimps. We bought halibut, a fish with compact, firm meat and a delicate taste, one that goes very well with butter, herbs and lemon.
Wine Pairing
It all depends on the filling of your Bouchée a la Reine. Could be a light red wine if you have some left over veal, if it’s sweetbread then a lightly oaked chardonnay is fine et cetera. In all cases keep in mind that the filling comes with a generous amount of butter. In this case we enjoyed a glass of Mâcon, produced by Thierry Drouin. The wine has aromas of green apples and citrus, with a touch of toast and some minerality. Great in combination with the rich ragoût and its flavours. Good value for money too!
What You Need
- One small Shallot
- 100 grams of firm, delicate Fish
- 50 grams of small Shrimps
- 15 grams of Butter
- 10 grams of All Purpose Flour
- Fish Stock
- Chervil
- White Pepper
- 2 Bouchées
What You Do
- Dice the raw fish (bite size)
- Finely chop the shallot
- Chop the chervil
- Warm the fish stock
- Preheat your oven to 180 °C or 355 °F
- Gently heat butter in a skillet
- Add the shallot and glaze for 5 minutes or so
- Add the flour
- Softly fry the flour until you begin smelling that typical cookie aroma
- Start adding the warm stock, slowly at first, constantly whisking.
- When the ragoût is ready, transfer the bouchées to the oven and leave for 10 minutes
- After 5 minutes, add the fish and combine
- After a few minutes the fish will be cooked
- Remove the pan from the heat
- Add white pepper, shrimps and chervil
- Combine
- Transfer the bouchées to the plates
- Add ragoût, decorate with chervil and serve immediately
PS
Normally we make our own stock. In this case we bought fish fond produced by Jürgen Langbein. We added water (1:1) to get the right stock for the ragout.
Cook and Drink 