Quenelles de brochet — tender pike dumplings in crayfish sauce

Buy pike fillet with all bones thoroughly removed, including the fine bones within the flesh. Run your fingers over it and remove every bone you can feel with tweezers; do not leave them for the blender to break up. Weigh out 400 g cleaned flesh, cut into cubes, cover and refrigerate.

Bring 200 ml milk, 40 g butter and the nutmeg to a boil, take the saucepan off the heat and add 100 g flour all at once. Stir vigorously, then dry over low heat for 3–4 minutes until the smooth paste pulls away from the sides and leaves a thin film on the base. Spread on a plate about 1 cm thick, leave for 15 minutes, then refrigerate for about 45 minutes until completely cold; make the sauce during this hour of cooling.

Separate the cooked crayfish tails, remove their meat and pull out the visible intestinal tract; take the meat from the larger claws too. Cover all the shelled meat and refrigerate. Crush the shells, heads and emptied claws with a rolling pin inside a strong bag, without grinding them to powder.

Melt 35 g butter in a saucepan and heat the crushed shells over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring until the fat is orange and aromatic. Pour in the wine, cook for 2 minutes, then add 200 ml water. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes with the lid slightly ajar; do not let the pan dry out.

Pour through a fine sieve lined with clean cheesecloth, allowing the liquid to drain without rubbing the shells through. Adjust the stock to 250 ml: briefly reduce any excess or top up with reserved water, leaving the unused reserve out. Melt 20 g butter in a clean saucepan, add 20 g flour and stir for a minute without browning. Gradually whisk in 200 ml milk and all the stock, simmer for 6–8 minutes, then add the cream, 1 g salt and the sauce pepper. Heat for another 2 minutes until lightly creamy and coating a spoon, cover and set aside; briefly reheat before pouring over the dumplings.

Process the very cold pike with 5 g salt and the dumpling pepper in short bursts so the fish does not warm up. Add pieces of completely cold panade and the remaining 20 g butter from the dumpling allocation, then blend until smooth. Beat the eggs, add in three portions and blend only until combined: the mixture should be uniform, sticky and hold its shape on a spoon. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Toward the end of chilling, preheat the oven to 180°C conventional heat. Grease a baking dish about 35 × 25 cm and at least 5 cm deep with the reserved 5 g butter. In a wide pot about 28–30 cm across, heat 3 l water with 12 g salt, then lower the heat so the water barely trembles.

Using two large spoons moistened with water, shape 12 oval dumplings of about 70 g each and about 8–9 cm long, passing the mixture between the spoons to smooth it. Lower six at a time into the pot with room to expand and poach gently for 15 minutes, carefully turning halfway through. Do not increase the boil when they float: they need the full time for their centers to set. Lift out with a slotted spoon, briefly drain and transfer to the dish; poach the second batch in the same way.

Arrange all the dumplings in one layer with small gaps between them. Briefly reheat the sauce, pour over the dumplings and distribute all the chilled crayfish meat between them. The sauce should surround the dumplings and coat them thinly, not form a thick mound.

Place on the middle oven rack for 18–20 minutes, until the sauce gently bubbles at the edges and the dumplings rise slightly and turn lightly golden in places. Remove carefully and immediately divide into four portions of three dumplings, serving with all the sauce and crayfish meat.