From:
This is one of Sharon’s favorites. I made it for her birthday dinner the first time I cooked for her. We had brunch together and I warned I had a big dinner planned. Still Janet, Nick & Sharon had snacks in the afternoon. I served this as an appetizer, but foolishly in full entree size. Then I made Shrimp Etouffée. Then dessert. It was a little much. Sharon learned to wear elastic banded pants to my dinners. And not to snack before coming to dinner.
Ingredients
Vegetable Cakes
- 2/3 pound spinach, well-washed and large stems removed
- one 6 ounce potato, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick
- 1 leek, well-washed, trimmed and quartered
- 1 clove garlic, peeled
- 1 bunch of flat leaf parsley, rinsed and large stems removed
- 1 bunch of watercress, rinsed and large stems removed
- 2 small heads of Boston lettuce, well washed and cored
- 1 bunch of chervil, rinsed and large stems removed
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 cup creme fraîche
- freshly grated nutmeg
- salt and ground pepper
Garnish
- 3/4 cup shelled peas
- 1/4 pound snow peas, trimmed and strings removed
- 3/4 cup Fava beans
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Fresh chervil sprigs
Lemon Butter
- juice and grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons creme fraîche
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
- salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions
Prepare the Vegetable Cakes: Bring a very large pot of salted water to a boil. Add 10 of the prettiest large spinach leaves to the water and blanch for 15 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and refresh under cold water. Spread spinach leaves out on paper towels to drain.
Add potato, leek and garlic to a pot and cook for 8 minutes. Add parsley, remaining spinach and watercress; cook for 3 minutes. Add lettuce and chervil and cook for 3 minutes longer. Drain all vegetable in a large colander and refresh under cold water. Gather vegetables into a ball with your hands and squeeze to extract as much liquid as possible.
Place vegetables in a food processor and puree, scraping down the sides every 20 seconds, until very, very smooth. Add eggs, crème fraîche, and a good pinch of nutmeg. Puree until thoroughly blended. Season mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
Preheat oven to 325°. Generously butter five 6 ounce ramekins or custard cups and line them with reserved blanched spinach leaves. Fill the lined molds with vegetable puree. Bake in a warm water bath until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Remove molds from water bath. (These can be prepared ahead and then re-warmed in a hot water bath in the oven until heated through).
Prepare the Garish: In a medium saucepan, cook the peas in boiling salted water until tender, about 15 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, refresh under cold water and drain well. Add snow peas to sauce pan and cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Remove, refresh in cold water & drain well. Add the fava bean to water and cook for 4 minutes. Drain, refresh under cold waster and remove their tough skins by gently squeezing beans between thumb and index finger. Cut the snow peas into diamond and place in a medium skillet along with favas and peas. Add butter and set aside until serving time.
Prepare the sauce: In a small heavy saucepan, combine lemon juice and zest, shallot and 1/4 cup water. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until reduced by two thirds. Add crème fraîche and reduce the heat to medium. When cream simmers, whisk in butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. When all butter has been incorporated and mixture is creamy, remove from the heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste and strain through a fine mesh sieve.
To Serve: Reheat vegetable cakes, if necessary. Warm peas and beans in butter in skillet over medium heat. Run a flexible knife around inner rim of the vegetable cakes to loosen them, then unmold onto 5 rimmed serving plates. Garnish each with peas and beans. Spoon some lemon butter over all and sprinkle with small chervil springs. Makes 5 servings as a main course.
Notes
I can usually make this serve 6 by blanching more spinach leaves for lining the cups and dividing the puree among the 6 cups. This recipe can also be altered to be used as an appetizer, using smaller molds, this means blanching more spinach leaves to line the molds. It can easily serve 8 as an appetizer.