Back to recipes index

Claudius Winterhalter​

Organ builder in Oberharmersbach, Germany
PAN-ASIA ROCK n' ROLL
Wasabi mashed potatoes with fried fish , sweet and sour sauce and grilled vegetables
​Instead of salmon you can also use fresh redfish or rockfish. From January to March the young Norwegian Skrei cod is particularly suitable. Please place this unusually fine, aromatic fish in salt water for approx. 15 minutes before frying, then dab...
Picture
Wasabi mashed potatoes with fried fish, sweet and sour sauce and grilled vegetables based on “Bobby Chinn”… 4 servings (as a main course)
INGREDIENTS
  • 160 g sugar
  • Ginger, 30 g (thumb-sized), finely chopped
  • 200 ml rice vinegar
  • 400 ml chicken stock
  • Leek and celeriac (two finger-sized pieces each)
  • 750 g potatoes (floury), peeled and quartered
  • 2 tbsp wasabi powder (use the real thing without mustard powder), mixed with warm water until smooth. Leave on for 10 minutes.
  • 240 g double cream
  • ¼ – ½ litre warm milk
  • 1 carrot and ½ fennel bulb (and/or zucchini) 
  • 4 pieces of salmon fillet with skin on
  • Lemon, salt, white pepper, nutmeg, a few sprigs of rosemary/thyme
METHOD
  1. Melt the sugar on a low heat until you get a brown edge. Stir in the ginger with a wooden spoon, deglaze a minute later with rice vinegar (be careful of the risk of splashing). Reduce to two-thirds (about 15 minutes).
  2. Add the chicken stock and simmer for another 25-30 minutes until it has a slightly creamy consistency.
  3. Strain out the ginger pieces and keep the sauce warm.
​FOR THE GARNISH
  1. Cut the leek and celeriac (two finger-sized pieces each) into very fine strips (use a julienne slicer if preferred) and fry in ½ cm of frying oil in a pan until crispy. Turn well and be careful not to burn it. Drain and dab on kitchen paper.
​FOR THE WASABI MASHED POTATOES
  1. Cook the potatoes in lightly salted water (about 20 minutes), drain, allow to evaporate briefly, process into a coarse paste with a potato masher, add double cream and warm milk with a foam whisk until a smooth consistency.
  2. Enrich with prepared wasabi paste until aromatic spiciness is created (control the aroma with a little more wasabi powder if necessary)
  3. Season to taste with sea salt and nutmeg.
​FOR THE GRILLED VEGETABLES
​Coat the carrot and ½ fennel in thin slices (max. 2 mm) with olive oil and grill on a baking tray until brown edges appear (240° approx. 7-8 min)
​FOR THE FISH
  1. Drizzle 4 pieces of salmon fillet with skin (three fingers wide and well scaled!) with lemon, salt, pepper (white) 
  2. Fry on the skin side in oil over high heat until slightly crispy (it’s best to use a coated pan) approx. 3-4 minutes,  then at approx. 150° Finish cooking in the oven with a few sprigs of rosemary/thyme another 3-4 minutes
​ARRANGE
  1. Put a large dollop of puree on a large preheated plate, place the fish on top, press it down a little, spoon the sauce around it, drape the grilled vegetables around it and garnish with fine roasted julienne
  2. Add a fruity-mineral white wine and maybe some baguette -  and everyone will ask themselves: “Why the hell can’t you get something so delicious from any Asian restaurant??"
TIPS:
  • *If you want fish without skin, sprinkle with lemon, salt and bread with a mixture of flour, aromatic pepper, black sesame and turmeric. Fry for about 2 minutes on each side... So that the fish doesn’t fall apart, it’s best to only turn it once...It looks wonderfully golden due to the turmeric. 
  • If you don’t want to fry the skin on the fish, leave it out. In the end, it is important that the fish is boneless and under no circumstances is it cooked through!
Claudius Winterhalter
Claudius Winterhalter, organ builder
Claudius writes:
​
​With good friends who have an upscale culinary style, I work in the kitchen and at the stove two or three times a year as a kind of “favourite private chef”. According to general desire, one day there should be something unusual with fish. Some time before, I had read a short description of a fish dish in a travel report about Vietnam. It came from an Asian-American chef and globetrotter named Bobby Chinn. I was immediately fascinated by the unusual components of this dish. So I tried to develop it as a recipe so I could prepare it my way...
On that day a surprise guest was invited who I had only known from TV and the press. Wolfram Siebeck (died 2016 - but his estate and work lives on here) was considered the leading gastro critic in Germany and France for decades. He regularly wrote a charming and funny column on the subject of culinary delights in the major weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”. He was loved and feared as a guest and gourmet in all star restaurants in Europe. His reviews could make or break a restaurant tremendously. Obviously excited about my Pan-Asian rock-n-roll fish, he asked me about my restaurant. He definitely has to come over for dinner sometime. What can I say? He could hardly believe that I was “just” an organ builder. I felt flattered and of course I invited him to the workshop. There was a lot of laughter and the atmosphere was excellent. We met a few more times after that, including in his private professional kitchen at Mahlberg Castle near Lahr.
Winterhalter Orgelbau website
Picture
Winterhalter organ in St Peter and Paul, Welschensteinach
BACK TO THE RECIPES INDEX