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1
Fish fumet/Stock: Put the gurnards in a small roasting pan with salt and pepper.
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2
Add 1 cup of white wine and 4 cherry tomatoes cut into pieces.
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3
Put the fish in a hot oven at 180 C for 20 minutes.
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4
In the meantime, stir fry a small onion and 3 chopped cherry tomatoes in a large pan to make the fish stock.
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5
Once the gurnard is done transfer it in the stock pan and add 1 spoon of concentrated tomato sauce.
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6
To keep all the flavors of the roasting fish, pour some water in the roasting pan to deglaze it.
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7
Pour the water over the fish and add 1/2 cup of white wine.
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8
Let it simmer for 20 minutes.
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9
In the meantime peel the Chayotes and cut them in small cubes
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10
Boil the Chayotes with 1 tsp of salt for 20 minutes.
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11
Once the chayote is cooked, drain it and transfer it in a bowl to cool completely.
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12
Clean and boil the Cime di Rapa for 10 minutes in a separate pan with a tsp of salt.
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13
When done, drain them and put them in iced water to preserve their nice green colour.
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14
If you cannot find the Cime di Rapayou can replace them with Cavolo Nero.
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15
Strain the fumet with a paper cloth and let it cool off completely.
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16
In a frying pan, stir fry 1 sliced clove of garlic.
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17
Put in the mussels and stir fry covered until they are all open.
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18
When they are ready, remove the mussel but keep the water.
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19
Strain the water through a paper cloth and let it rest so that any residual of sand will fall at the bottom.
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20
The water from the mussels is naturally salted and will be used instead of salt to season the Chayote mousse. As Le Bec Fin said, Chayote have no flavour !
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21
Clean the mussels and put them aside.
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22
Now mix the fish fumet, the water from the mussels and the Chayote to make the mousse. It is important to mix the right quantity to balance taste and consistency.
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23
To start add 1/2 cup of mussels water and 1/3 of fish fumet to the Chayote and blend.
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24
Taste and add more fish fumet or mussels water accordingly until you reach the desired taste and texture.
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25
Pour the mousse in the serving bowl and add 4 mussels and 4 Cime di Rapa per plate to garnish.
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26
When eating the sweetness of the mussel will be balance by the acidity of the Cime di Rapa, all softly bounded by the Chayote mousse.
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27
Best served at room temperature
