recipe: smoked whitefish brandade

The second recipe I tried from Gather Around My Table was a smoked whitefish brandade. Just like the cherry cornmeal torte, I would make this one again!

It did take some time for the different components. However, that was mainly because I made labneh from scratch from my homemade yogurt and I accidentally bought raw fresh cod instead of smoked cod so I had to poach the cod before I could start making this recipe. I was happy to have to do both these steps, though, because now I understand how to make labneh and poached cod! :)

Smoked Whitefish Brandade

Ingredients:

1 pound russet potatoes (2 medium), scrubbed

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup (4 ounces) labneh

1/2 cup whole milk

1 tbsp minced garlic

kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

1/2 pound smoked whitefish, skin and pin bones discarded, fresh flaked (1 packed cup)

chopped fresh chives or scallions, for garnish

crusty bread or crackers, for serving

Instructions:

1) Heat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Wrap the potatoes in aluminum foil and bake until cooked through and completely tender in the center, about 1 hour. Unwrap them and let cool until the potatoes are cool enough to handle. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2) Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup of the oil, the labneh, milk, and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Whisk until smooth.

3) Discard the potato skins and rice the potatoes through a food mill or ricer into a large bowl (I used a box grater). Add the labneh mixture, season with salt and pepper, and mix until well blended. Add the whitefish and fold until well incorporated. Transfer the mixture to an oven-safe 1-quart baking dish and drizzle over the remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake until the brandade is lightly golden on top and hot in the center, about 15 minutes longer.

4) Garnish the brandade with chives or scallions. Serve warm with bread or crackers.

Notes: 

To make labneh, mix 1/4 tsp salt into 1 cup yogurt. Wet and ring out a flour sack towel and line a mesh colander over a bowl with the towel. Spoon the salted yogurt into the flour sack towel. Put in the fridge for 12-24 hours while the liquid whey drains out of the yogurt and into the bottom of the bowl. It can be ready at 12 hours, but 24 hours will lead to a thicker, creamier spread. I forgot to do this ahead of time and wanted to make my brandade today, so I attempted a quicker labneh method hanging my flour sack towel with the salted yogurt in it from a kitchen faucet to weigh it down and make the whey drip out of it quicker.

 

To mimic the flavor of smoked whitefish, when I poached my cod I added half milk/half water to cover the fish and dropped three smashed garlic cloves, a bay leaf, and 1/16 tsp pepper. I heated this over medium heat until it gently simmered and kept it at this heat for about 10 minutes until the fish was an opaque color and the inside temperature was at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit. When I mixed up the labneh, oil, garlic I added 6 or so drops of Liquid Smoke with those ingredients at that time. 

I baked my brandade at least 20 minutes longer than the recipe called for, but I still could not get the top to brown. I troubleshooted online and it said if there is too much liquid or oil on the top then it will just boil instead of browning, which is what mine was doing. I sopped off some of the oil and then added a sprinkle of bread crumbs to the top and baked for another 10 minutes. It still wasn't browning at all, but at this point it had been in the oven almost an hour and I was hungry!! So I called it quits. It may have been because I only had my salted yogurt mixture draining for about 5 hours so it maybe still had quite a bit of liquid in it which caused the brandade to just bubble versus brown. Regardless, it was still delicious. I got some homemade artisan bread out of the freezer and went back for seconds it was so yummy! I would like to try this again, but getting actually smoked fish from the store. I also wonder if I could try it with potato flakes instead of baking and ricing potatoes. That would cut down on some of the steps.