Cod and Spinach Roulades

I tried to make a tasty dinner from when Scott returned from his conference in Vegas. I made something from this book , which was what Scott got me for my birthday. I had only tried the chocolate mousse so far from this book which was easy, quick, and delicious. I made cod and spinach roulades. It seemed like it used some really interesting cooking styles, and I was drawn to the idea of making a mousse out of the whitefish.

First I went to the Hannaford on Wolf Road, and would like to say I was very impressed with their produce and seafood departments. For such a fancy looking dish it was actually very simple to prepare. First for the sauce you cook a few ripe tomatoes in a few sliced garlic cloves with about a tablespoon of butter. After the tomatoes have softened, you put the whole thing in the food processor, add some lemon zest, pulse it a bit, add salt and pepper, and put it aside for later. Then you cook some onion and garlic. Throw in about 5 ounces spinach and a table spoon of water, cook until the spinach is wilted. Then, you chop the spinach and add in some more lemon zest. This becomes the filling for the roulades. Then you have about 10 ounces of cod or whatever whitefish. You cut up the fish in pieces and put it in the food processor with 2 egg whites and 1/2 cup of cream. You run the food processor until you have a smooth, mousse-like texture. Then you spread out some pieces of plastic wrap about a foot long, and spread the fish in a rectangle about 3x5 inches using a spatula. You spread the spinach mixture in the middle third. And using the plastic wrap to guide you, fold it tightly and twist the ends of the plastic wrap to make like a sausage looking package. You do this 4 times. Then with a steamer tray on top of boiling water you steam the roulades for 10 minutes. You take the roulades out, cut the plastic warp off, and cut them in slices. You spoon some of the tomato garlic sauce onto the plate, and place the roulades in the sauce. We served it with rice.

Scott really liked it. I would say what I enjoyed the most was the texture. The concept of putting the fish in a food processor with egg whites and cream makes it fluffier than you could imagine, incredibly light and airy. And although there is a bit of cream and some butter in the sauce, the roulades are steamed and so overall I would guess it's pretty healthy. I thought this was overall a really great dish - lemony spinach mixture with fluffy whitefish, topped in a garlicky tomato sauce. Elegant and delicious.