Fish Aspic For The New Year

Aspic can be made less high-calorie and more varied in taste if fish is taken as a basis, not meat. But in order for the dish to look really appetizing and meet all gastronomic requirements, you should deal with its preparation in detail.

Aspic can be made less high-calorie and more varied in taste if fish is taken as a basis, not meat. But in order for the dish to look really appetizing and meet all gastronomic requirements, you should deal with its preparation in detail.

General principles of fish aspic

 

The essence of the aspic with fish is that boiled fish with spices is poured with a solution of gelatin in the broth. Pike perch and sterlet are best suited for this. As a worthy replacement, you can use catfish, carp, pike, cod, bream or perch. The main thing is that the structure of the fish is dense and does not fall apart after cooking.

The quality of gelatin also plays a role, powdered gelatin will create the necessary consistency much better than crystalline. In the classic version, the fish is boiled and gelatin is not added, but this will require fatty fish.

Sour berries, citrus fruits, greens, hard fruits, vegetables and seafood can act as additives.

Jellied in Galician

Filling Ingredients:

3 kg perch, 2 bay leaves, onion, half a lemon, 50 g parsley, 50 g dill, 100 g red currant (frozen), 5-6 black peppercorns, 10 g salt.

 

The fish must be cleaned: cut out the gills (otherwise the dish will be with an unpleasant bitterness). After putting it in a saucepan, pour water (1.5-2 l), add bay leaves, salt, pepper and peppercorns. Cook over low heat, removing the foam, 40-50 minutes. Leave to cool for 1-2 hours.

Then take out the fish, cut into pieces, remove the bones from it and remove the skin so that only the boiled fillet remains. Put it in a deep glass bowl. Top with sliced ​​lemon, currant berries, sprigs of parsley and dill. Strain the fish broth from all impurities and carefully pour into the perch, cover with cling film. Place in the refrigerator until completely solidified - 1-2 days.

On top of the aspic, you can lay out more berries, herbs and citrus slices. It will decorate the dish wonderfully. The form is allowed not only glass, but it is it that, when served, makes the aspic spectacular, since in this form all the bright ingredients are visible.

Jellied honey carp

Ingredients:

1-1.5 kg of carp, 60 ml of lemon juice, 30-40 g of liquid honey, onion, 1 bay leaf, 3 black peppercorns, 30 ml of vinegar, 2 eggs, sweet pepper, 50 g of raisins, parsley root, carrots, 10 g gelatin, 10 g salt.

 

Pour raisins with 250 ml of boiling water, add honey and put on the stove. Cook for 7-8 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside.

Peel the onion and cut it in half, cut the carrots and parsley root into circles. Put them in a saucepan, pour 1.5 liters of boiling water and cook for 10 minutes.

Peel the carp from the husks, entrails, fins, bones, remove the head, divide into large pieces (as for frying), add to the vegetables, add bay leaf and pepper, salt. Cook for 10-15 minutes, then remove the fish and put it in a deep glass dish. Put the sliced ​​​​lemon into slices and quarters of eggs there. Gelatin pour 50 ml of cold water for a quarter of an hour.

The broth must be filtered, returned to the pan and put on a minimum fire. Simmer it for about half an hour, then add gelatin and stir until it is completely dissolved. Next, add raisins in honey and mix. Pour the fish with the mixture, cover the mold and place in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours. When serving, you can decorate with herbs and berries.

Puff aspic from pike perch

For filling you will need:

2 kg pike perch, 30 g gelatin, 3 black peppercorns, 5-8 g ground white pepper, 10 g salt, onion, carrot, 1-2 bay leaves, lemon, 4-6 quail eggs, 50 g green peas, Bulgarian pepper, 60 g of red caviar, 2 pickled cucumbers, 20-30 g of fresh parsley or dill.

 

Clean the fish, gut it, remove the bones, fins and head. Only fillet and skin should remain. Place them in a saucepan, pour water (2.5 l) and put to boil. During the cooking process, add peeled and halved onions, carrot slices, bay leaf, salt, peppercorns. Along the way, remove the foam and soak 10 g of gelatin in 50 ml of water.

It is required to cook on low heat for about an hour, then remove from the stove, remove and set aside the fish, strain the broth and combine with the already soaked gelatin, stir thoroughly so that no lumps remain. Leave the broth to cool for an hour, then pour a portion into a jellied mold so that it covers the bottom by 1 cm and refrigerate to solidify. After half an hour, place pieces of fish on a jelly-like mass, pour half of the broth with gelatin, return to the cold for 30-35 minutes.

During this time, boil quail eggs, peel and cut in half, remove the stem from the pepper, cut into circles, and lemons and cucumbers into rings. Place them, caviar and peas on top of the frozen layer covering the fish. This can be done arbitrarily, or any symmetrical pattern can be created to make the aspic look brighter and more festive. Gently pour the remaining broth with gelatin on top and refrigerate overnight (8-10 hours). Decorate with parsley sprigs.

Fish aspic with beets

Ingredients:

2 kg of fish, 40 g of gelatin, large beets, parsley root, 2 onions, 3-4 black peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, 5 carrots, 100 g of parsley.

 

Clean the fish of everything superfluous, only the fillet on the skin should remain. But do not throw away the fins, tail and head, the gills must be removed from the latter. Put the head, fins and tail in a saucepan, pour 2 liters of water and boil. Cut the carrots into large strips and add to the broth, after 10 minutes add salt, bay leaf, pepper and onions (peeled and cut in half). After half an hour, remove from heat, strain. Throw away everything except carrots. Place the fillet in the resulting broth and cook for about half an hour until the fish is ready, removing the foam. Then take it out, put it in a mold, put carrots on top.

Grind the beets in a blender or on a grater. Pour into the broth, boil, after a quarter of an hour, strain the liquid again to get rid of the vegetable. Pour the gelatin into the hot broth and stir until it dissolves. Pour the resulting mixture into the fish and carrots, place the aspic for 8-10 hours in the refrigerator.