Need a recipe! Can you help?

[mofo1]

Hey folks, I need a recipe from The French Laundry book. It's Sea bass with sweet parsnips and arrowleaf spinach with saffron vanilla sauce. I'd appreciate your help!!!

[Isa]

For when do you need the recipe Mofo? And do you need the five parts of the recipe or just a few? I'm asking because it's two pages and I won't be able to type it all today.

[Isa]

I’ll assume you don’t need the mussel stock and the introduction to the recipe. If you do just let me know and I’ll copy them.


Part one: Spinach

Three 2 inch strips of orange zest, remove with a vegetable peeler.
3/4 teaspoon olive oil
6 ounces spinach, washed and tough stems removed
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons unsalted butter

Place the strips of orange zest in a large skillet with the olive oil. Heat the oil until it is hot and the zest begins to ripple from the heat. Add the spinach and sprinkle with salt (seasoning the spinach before it wilts ensures even seasoning). Cook the spinach until it wilts, then continue to cook for another 2 to 3 minutes to evaporate the moisture. Remove the spinach and from the pan and separate it into 6 parts. Take each pile of spinach, place it in a clean tea towel, and twist the towel around the spinach to squeeze out any remaining liquid and for a compact ball. Remove from the towel. Refrigerate the spinach balls until ready to complete the dish.

[Isa]

Part 2: The Parsnip Purée


2 parsnips (about 5 ounces), peeled
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 cup water
Pinch of Kosher salt
1 teaspoon unsalted butter

Slice the parsnips lenghtwise in half. Beginning at the narrow end, cut 1/2 inch pieces. When the parsnips half widens, about one third of the way up, split it lenghtwise again and continue to cut. (You want to keep the pieces about the same size.)

Place the cut parsnips in a saucepan with 1 cup of the heavy cream, the water, and salt. Bring to a boil lower the heat, and simmer gently for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the parsnips are completely soft. Strain the parsnips, reserving the cream, and scrape the parsnips through a tamis with a plastic scraper. Put the purée in a bowl and stir in enough of the strain cream to give them a texture of mashed potatoes. Transfer to a small saucepan and keep in a warm place.

[mofo1]

Isa,
I just need the sauce to complete. I had this recipe in an old Food Arts, but it got ruined in the rain. I planned on doing it tonight with some beautiful scallops that I have instead of the bass. Thank you ever so much for helping me. I greatly appreciate it.

[Isa]

Part 3: The Saffron Vanilla Sauce


1/2 vanilla bean, split
Reserved one cup of mussel stock
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
1 1/2 teaspoons heavy cream
10 tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces


Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into a small saucepan and add the vanilla pod, mussel stock, and saffron threads. Bring the stock to a glaze ( 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons). Add the cream and simmer for a few more seconds. Over medium heat, whisk in the butter bit by bit (as you would for beurre monté). It is critical to maintain the sauce at the correct temperature, as it can break if it becomes too hot or cold. Strain the sauce and mix for several seconds with an immersion blender, yo can use a regular one but rinse out the blender container with hot water before adding the sauce, so it stays warm).

[mofo1]

I neglected to thank you promptly for this, Isa. Sorry about that. The time you put into copying this recipe is GREATLY appreciated.

[Isa]

Your welcome Mofo, glad I could help you.