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Baked CucumbersBaked Cucumbers
with Fish Filets Poached in White Wine with Mushrooms
February 13, 2020 | Updated March 21, 2023 | Laura
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✽ Recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I | Julia Child ✽
Julia Child Recipes 65-67 | 461 recipes to go!
✽ Fish Filets Poached in White Wine with Mushrooms [Filets de Poisson Bercy aux Champignons], p. 210
✽ White-wine Fish Stock [Fumet de Poisson au Vin Blanc], p. 114
✽ Baked Cucumbers [Concombres au Beurre], p. 499; served as Concombres Persillés [Parslied Cucumbers]
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✽ Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.
✽ You can buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I which contains these recipes here. (affiliate link)
The purpose of this Julia Child section of my blog is to document my journey of learning how to cook. To show my successes, my failures, and what I learned along the way.
Since I didn't create these recipes (if only!), I do not post exact amounts of ingredients or word-for-word instructions. If any of these recipes spark your interest, I highly recommend you buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (affiliate link). It's a great investment and learning tool and contains hundreds of classic recipes.
What you will find on my blog is:
✽ Butter Count & Cost Total
✽ How the Recipe Tasted
✽ Answers to Questions about Recipe
✽ Fun Facts about Recipe or an Ingredient Used
✽ The Recipe Process
✽ Step-by-Step and Final Photos of Recipe
I hope that you enjoy reading my thoughts, learn something new, and leave inspired to try a new recipe. Bon appétit!
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Butter Count & Cost: Fish Filets & Baked Cucumbers
✽ Butter Count: +7.5 TB
✽ Cost: $31.15 [~$5.19 per serving]
- Fish Filets Poached in White Wine with Mushrooms= $27.39 [6 servings]
- Baked Cucumbers= $3.76 [6 servings]
Check out the total Julia Child butter count & cost here!
→ Looking for a different Julia Child recipe? Here's a list of all of the completed and pending Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipes!
The most surprising recipe yet!
But first, the second fish recipe! This time I bought fish that was already skinned and fileted. No red worms coming out of my fish this time (thank goodness). That was such a traumatizing experience and probably the reason why I am just now getting to the second fish recipe. YUK!
Though I do wish that I wouldn’t have waited so long. The sauce on this fish is AMAZING. It’s so rich and buttery. The mushrooms add such a wonderful flavor. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.
I also decided to make the homemade white-wine fish stock for this recipe. We bought whole fish heads, and their eyes stare straight into your soul. Poor little buddies.
I also made baked cucumbers with this meal. I thought, “Eh, I’ll make these to get them out of the way.” But let me tell you, these are a game changer.
Why haven’t I ever thought of baking cucumbers before!? Also, why do I never see them on a menu?! These were absolutely great. They tasted like a really good zucchini.
Baked Cucumbers: Questions
✽ What is a sojourn?
You must rid the cucumbers of their natural water or else you will up with cucumber mush. You could blanch them, but then you'd end up with unflavorful cucumber.
The best route is a preliminary sojourn. This involves soaking the peeled and cut cucumbers in a bowl of salt water. The salt will draw out all of the natural water within the cucumbers. Also, Add a bit of vinegar and sugar to the salt water, to maximize the cucumbers' flavor.
✽ What should you serve with baked cucumbers?
As you can see, I served mine with fish filets. I thought it was delicious, but it is not one of the cookbook's recommendations. The cookbook recommends serving cucumbers with roast, chicken, veal, brains, or sweetbreads.
✽ What do baked cucumbers taste like?
These baked cucumbers have a mild but delicious flavor. They are soft, tender, and slightly crispy. They keep their mild earthy flavor. I chose to bake my cucumbers with dill which I found to be a delightful combination.
Looking for more Julia Child vegetable recipes to read about?
→ Check out all of the vegetable recipes that I've completed so far!
Fun Facts about Cucumbers
*Find these facts plus lots more on Mr. Plant Geek*
✽ How much water does a cucumber contain?
95% of a cucumber is water!
✽ Which country produces the most cucumbers?
China produces 76% of the world's cucumbers.
✽ How many calories does a cucumber have?
An entire cucumber only has 16 calories!
How to Make White Wine Fish Stock
✽ Simmer Ingredients
The stock was much easier to make than expected. Basically, you put fish parts (any will do- heads, meat, bones, trimmings), a sliced onion, parsley, lemon juice, salt, white wine, and enough cold water to cover everything. I also threw in the optional mushroom stems.
The brew is simmered for about half an hour and then strained. Now, you are ready to make the best fish sauce ever.
How to Make Filets de Poisson Bercy aux Champignons
✽ Step 1: Saute Mushrooms
First, mushrooms are tossed in hot butter for a couple of minutes and then seasoned.
✽ Step 2: Poach Fish
The poaching of the fish is the exact same process as last time. Except this time I am poaching the fish the white-wine fish stock and mushrooms.
✽ Step 3: Reduce Liquids
After the fish is poached in the oven, the leftover poaching liquid is boiled down to make it extra strong and flavorful.
✽ Step 4: Make Sauce
The beurre manié (flour and butter paste) is beaten into the reduced liquid and some heavy cream is added. It’s about now that the sauce looks wonderful, and you will barely be able to wait to eat it. It is brought to a boil, some more cream is added to thin it out, and then seasonings and lemon juice.
✽ Step 5: Broil
Next, the delicious sauce is spooned over the fish, sprinkled with Swiss cheese, and dotted with butter. It’s all placed into the broiler, and the sauce and cheese will brown lightly.
YUMMM!! Five Stars!
How to Make Parslied Baked Cucumbers
✽ Step 1: Peel, Cut, and Soak
The most important thing is that all the moisture is removed before you bake them. This can be done by doing a preliminary sojourn.
This is when you place the cut cucumbers in salted water and the salt will actually draw the water right out of the cucumbers. Science!
Also added in the salted water is sugar and vinegar which will accentuate the flavor of the cucumbers. Cucumbers are not blanched because this would leave them flavorless.
The next step is really simple. The cucumbers are placed in a baking dish with melted butter, fresh dill, green onions, and pepper. They are baked about an hour, tossing a couple times. After baking, I sprinkled the cucumbers with a bit of parsley.
The cucumbers will be tender but still be a tad crispy. Everybody should try baked cucumbers at least once. They will taste nothing like what you were expecting. Again, five stars!
*This blog, Laura The Gastronaut, and this post were/are not endorsed or supported by Julia Child or The Julia Child Foundation.
Category: Julia Child, Vegetables, Sauces, Fish Cuisine: French
Keywords: french poached fish recipes, julia child baked cucumbers recipe, baked cucumbers julia child, braised cucumbers julia child, roasted cucumbers recipe
✽ Did you make this recipe too?
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More Fish Recipes:
✽ Fish Filets Poached in White Wine (the original delicious poached fish recipe)
✽ Filets de Poisson a la Bretonne (poached fish served with a julienne of vegetables)
✽ Filets de Poisson Gratines a la Parisienne (poached fish topped with a very tasty cream and egg yolk sauce)
→ Check out all of the completed Julia Child fish recipes!
✽ You can find this recipe and all the other Julia Child recipes I make in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I (affiliate link).
→ Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.
✽ Check out my Julia Child Recipe Checklist to see a list of all my completed and pending recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking!
Bon appétit!
February 13, 2020 by Laura Ehlers
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