Florentine in the name of a dish implies that it is served in the style of Florence which for our purposes means the city in the Tuscany region of Italy by that name. In the simplest terms, this means a dish served with spinach and a cream sauce. However, the dish I am speaking about today is not Italian, but French in nature. To kind of tie French cuisine and the Italian city of Florence together, there is an unauthenticated story 
concerning the Italian wife of France’s King Henry II, Catherine de Medici. She is credited with introducing a number of Italian foods to France including Italian ices and sherbet. She is also credited with introducing spinach to France somewhere around the year 1550. The story goes that in order to honor her Italian heritage, she decided to call any dish including spinach “Florentine”.
OK, now that we have that out of the way, we can get on to my story. Ms Cocktail and I both hail from Connecticut. Me from the interior recesses and Ms Cocktail from the coast. Both of us have seafood as part of our culinary tradition but her connection to it is much stronger. You see, her uncle was a commercial fisherman and in turn his son, Ms Cocktail’s cousin Mike, also took up that career. Since Mike lives near Ms Cocktail’s mom and the family is pretty close, he often stops by and gives her some fish. This fish sometimes makes its way into our hands as well.
From our perspective, this fish is very welcome. It is often of types we can’t get or can’t afford here. Ms Cocktail and I will sometimes play a little game we like to call, what size is our fish? We do this because her mom takes the fresh filets (always filets, never steaks) and freezes them into a Tupperware container. Depending on the type and size of the fish and what happens to be in season, we can get anywhere from between two to six filets to a 2 quart container. On average, this is about 1 1/2 pounds of fish filets, perfect for most entree sized recipes.
Now, something else I do on the side is to give guitar lessons. As you glance back through some of the archives here, you’ll see that I’m not too shabby with a guitar in my hands. It just so happened that last week, my Tuesday evening guitar lesson cancelled and I was left with unexpected time on my hands. What I did have was a container of unknown fish and about a pound of fresh spinach. So I did what I sometimes do when I have time available, I turned to the Joy of Cooking.
While the Joy of Cooking is an excellent (and indispensible IMO) volume when it comes to techniques (especially of the French variety) one area where it lacks is in a generous amount of fish related recipes. I quickly realized this as I started leafing through the section on fresh fish. It was just lucky that there was a recipe for Filet of Sole Florentine, something that blended nicely with the ingredients I happen to have on hand. Occasionally, we will get flounder filets that wore nicely as a replacement for sole. So what did I find when I popped open the Tupperware container? Three rather large Rockfish filets.
This is no where near as bad as you may think. Rockfish, sometimes also referred to as striped bass, is a wonderful ocean fish that spawns in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States. It has a white/tan flesh that is similar in appearance to cod but with a slightly stronger flavor. While the thickness of the filets is much larger than flounder or sole, this flavor is completely compatible with a dish of this type. What could possibly trip me up is that for this dish the fish filets are poached, something I’ve never done before.
Necessity is the mother of invention and this case was no different. The Joy of Cooking calls for using a fish poacher, a device specifically designed to submerge fish in hot liquid in order to cook them. This is one device my kitchen is without but I was able to make an acceptable substitute from a roasting pan and a small baking sheet placed inside. Once the fish was poached, it was only a matter of putting the three portions together (spinach, cream sauce and fish) and finishing under a broiler.
The dish came out wonderful. It is filled with many subtle little flavors that keep popping out unexpectedly from the background. Don’t expect a blast of flavor here, this just isn’t that kind of dish. However, it’s complex structure makes for a wonderful dining experience. A nice, sharp Sauvignon Blanc will pair nicely with this dish, cutting through the richness of the cream sauce.
Poached Fish
2 quarts water
1/2 bay leaf
1/4 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 small onion stuck with two cloves
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1 1/2 lbs fish filets
(Author’s note: Instead of just poaching the fish in water, it is cooked in what is called a Court Bouillon otherwise known as acidic water with some vegetables thrown in.)
Combine all teh ingredients except the fish in a large roasting pan. Take a small baking sheet (one that fits inside the roaster, but not all the way to the bottom) and lightly oil it. Place the fish filets on the baking sheet. Make sure there is enough liquid in the roaster to complete cover the baking sheet and its contents. Add water to make enough liquid. Bring this liquid to a boil. Place the baking sheet in the roaster and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook the fish until it can be flaked with a fork, about 10 to 15 minutes depending on the size and thickness of the filets. Remove fish and drain.
Rockfish Florentine
1 1/2 lbs poached Rockfish filets (this works equally well with other light flavored fish filets)
1 1/2 cups Creamed Spinach
1 cup seasoned Béchamel Sauce
1 cup panko bread crumbs
3 Tbs butter
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
In an oven proof, put the creamed spinach then lay the pached fish on top. Cover with the cream sauce. Cover this with the panko. Dot with the butter and sprinkle the cheese over the top. Run under the broiler until the cheese starts to brown.
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