Stephencooks

Flounder and Maine Shrimp Roulades in Polenta Cups

Makes 6 cups.

3" piece of leek, white parts only, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/8" slices
3 thin slices pancetta, chopped
1 egg
1/2 C heavy cream
1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
salt, hot sauce to taste
30 leaves baby spinach
3 thin baby flounder fillets, skinless (about 6-7" long)
1/2 pound Maine shrimp, peeled (unshelled weight)
6 polenta cups (recipe below)
2 T Parmeggiano Reggiano, shredded

Place a scant teaspoon of olive oil in a small pan and sauté the pancetta until starting to crisp at the edges. Remove to a small bowl. Add the leek slices to the pan and cook a couple of minutes on medium heat, stirring. Remove to the bowl. Add the cheese to the bowl and toss to mix.

Beat the egg with a fork and add the cream and nutmeg. Season to taste.

Line the walls of the polenta cups (still in the muffin tin) with the spinach leaves. Cut each fillet in half lengthwise along the centerline. Form a ring with each fillet and drop one into each polenta cup. Place a teaspoonful of the leek mixture in the bottom of each cup and then fill it with shrimp, mounding them above the top of the fillets. Sprinkle each shrimp mound with salt and then place another pinch of the leek mixture on top of each mound. Spoon the egg mixture over the cups. (The custard will expand while cooking so the cups shouldn't be filled to the brim with the custard mix. There may be some custard mix left over.)

Cover with foil and bake about 30 minutes in a preheated 375º oven, removing the foil after 20 minutes.

Allow the cups to rest about 5 minutes. Run a small, flexible silicon spatula blade around the edges of each cup and then slip the blade under the cup to transfer it to a plate. (See note below.)

Polenta Cups

2-1/2 cups water
1 tsp salt
3/4 C "instant" polenta meal (see note below)
2 T butter
2 T Parmeggiano Reggiano, shredded

Bring water to boil, add salt and then stir in the polenta meal. Cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring. When the polenta is nearly done stir in the butter and cheese.

Butter six cups in a muffin tin. Fill each of the buttered cups about half full with hot polenta and use a teaspoon dipped in olive oil to push the polenta from the center up along the sides of the muffin cups. Chill overnight, covered with plastic wrap.

Notes.

1. Difficulty warning! The polenta cups, when hot, are very delicate. Removing them to a plate intact is difficult, so keep an open mind about the appearance of the dish. The custard will hold the fish roll together but the walls of the polenta cup may fall around it, which may make the presentation look a bit like a big flower...or like a fish roulade on top of a pile of polenta!  If you want a more uniform presention, consider making the polenta separately, with the fish rolls baked in individual remekins and then unmolded on top of a mound of the polenta (you may need more custard mix if you do it this way). Or forget the polenta altogether and place the fish rolls and custard in blind-baked quiche crusts in the ramekins.

2. Sauce. If you want a sauce for this dish, a reduction (by half) of Red Shrimp Broth, with a little cream added and seasoning corrected, works well.

3. Soup. If you have a LOT of Red Shrimp Broth on hand, consider making a soup of the broth by reducing it by about a third and adding some cream and seasoning. Then the polenta cups can be plopped into the soup plate to form an island.

4. Instant polenta. I use the wonderful Roland brand polenta meal, which cooks much faster than the traditional corn meal. I've actually never made polenta with regular corn meal -- if you can't find the Roland product or want to try the traditional way, here's a LINK to an Epicurious recipe.