French Fridays with Dorie: Cod and Spinach Roulades

Cod and Spinach roulades from Around my French Table for French Fridays with Dorie by eat. live. travel. write.

This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe (Cod and Spinach Roulades, p 292) wasn’t one I would have chosen to make on my own probably – first of all, it’s fish. Ok, it’s cod so it’s not *too* fishy. But it’s a fish mousse that you roll around a spinach filling to make little fish sausages. That you steam. Doesn’t sound so appealing, right? In actual fact, this was one that surprised me a lot – not only was the taste surprisingly good but I also enjoyed learning the technique – it’s a fancy one, for sure and not one I might use on an everyday basis but it’s easy enough to make for a dinner party and will surely impress people with its delicate appearance and taste.

In all honestly, it took around 20 minutes to assemble the roulades, then they sat in the fridge for a few hours until I was ready to steam them. The filling is simply spinach, lemon zest, onion and garlic and the sausage part of the dish is fish, egg whites and cream.  The were not so easy to cut once they were cooked/ steamed and my rounds were a little sloppy looking as you can see here, but when you place them in the lovely optional sauce, it looks a little better.  I added the pesto which you were supposed to drizzle on top of the roulade to the tomato/ lemon sauce for a little bit more depth and loved the combination – would be perfect on pasta too!

Dorie Greenspan Around my French Table Cod and Spinach Roulades for French Fridays with Dorie by eat. live. travel. write.

Will I be making this again? Well, I enjoyed the challenge of making this and the taste pleased even my non fish-loving palate so it’s definitely on the “maybe” list.

French Fridays with Dorie participants do not publish the recipes on our blogs (though a version of this week’s recipe can be found online here); we prefer if you purchase Around My French Table for yourselves which you can do here on Amazon or Amazon Canada. Or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository. Go on, treat yourself then join us here!

17 thoughts on “French Fridays with Dorie: Cod and Spinach Roulades”

  1. Sauce makes everything look prettier 🙂

    I wasn’t sure how I would feel about puree of fish – but it was a really nice dish. Two thumbs up on our end.

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  2. Yay Mardi – good on you for making these when you don’t even like fish. And double yay for trying them and liking them. I found them to be tasty, but they certainly don’t beat plain old fashioned fish for me. I have to admit though, I enjoyed playing with the little bundles – I had seen it done on telly but never done it myself.

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  3. Lovely dish! But not so successful for me. I didn’t get much flavor out of mine. Ah, well! It was an interesting technique, but I’m not so sure I’d do it again!

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  4. I see the difference between you and I on this dish. I love fish and it is not your thing. This dish disguises the fish. This was a hard one to photograph nice picture.

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  5. Love your presentation…makes your roulades look perfect!! They were hard to cut…I messed up my first roll. However, surprisingly good!! Have a great weekend, Mardi!

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  6. Looks beautiful, Mardi. You’re a trooper to try this when you don’t like fish… When I first ate this last night, I liked it, but wasn’t sure I’d make it again, but after having it as leftovers, I think I might. Dinner party fare, for sure.

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  7. Twenty minutes??? Twenty minutes??? Is Canadian time different than American time? Who the hell could put these little gems together in 20 minutes? Ohhhhhh, they just weren’t my cup of tea, I guess. The thought of even attempting these for a dinner party gives me the shakes. Good for you. And, admittedly, your presentation looks lovely.

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    • Hi Heidi,

      No I didn’t have any trouble with that but I see a lot of people did. Next time though I might not use the full amount of cream – maybe needed a tad less to be a bit more firm…

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  8. It’s great to know that the “sausages” can be made ahead. That really makes this one perfect for a dinner party. Your sauce is gorgeous – I really like the idea of adding the pesto directly.

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  9. Your roulade slices look beautiful with the sauce. I enjoyed learning the technique, though the dish wasn’t a hit for us.

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