Tartelettes à la Raglan

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Eight 6 to 7 cm fluted tartlet moulds
• •Baking parchment and baking beans
• •Small food processor
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Electric hand mixer or balloon whisk
• •Piping bag fitted with a 6 mm small grooved open-star tip
• •Heavy rimmed baking sheet
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the pâte brisée

   Mix the flour and salt, then rub in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few small flakes still visible. Add the ice water and press the dough together without kneading. If dry flour remains, add the extra water a few drops at a time; wet dough shrinks, so stop as soon as it holds. Flatten into a disc, wrap, and chill for 45 minutes.

2. 2

   Line the moulds

   Lightly butter eight fluted tartlet moulds about 6 to 7 cm wide. Roll the dough 2 mm thick, cut eight circles large enough to line the moulds, and press them into the flutes without stretching. Trim the rims and reserve a little raw pastry for repairs. Prick the bases, chill for 15 minutes, and heat the oven to 160°C conventional or 325°F.

3. 3

   Bake without colour

   Line each shell with a small piece of parchment and fill with baking beans. Bake for 12 minutes, remove the paper and beans, then bake for 4 to 6 minutes more, just until the pastry looks dry and opaque but remains pale. If a shell cracks, press a scrap of raw pastry over the gap while it is warm and return it to the oven for 2 minutes. Ça se rattrape. Cool completely, then unmould carefully.

4. 4

   Purée the milts

   Blend the smoked herring milts with the softened butter and cream until completely smooth, then push the mixture through a fine sieve to remove any membrane. Taste before adding anything; smoked milt carries its own salt. The purée must hold a soft mound. If it is stiff, loosen it with a teaspoon of cream; if slack, chill it for 10 minutes.

5. 5

   Poach the haddock

   Place the haddock and milk in a small saucepan and bring the milk only to a tremble around the edge. Poach gently for 4 to 5 minutes, until the fish is opaque, flakes cleanly, and reaches 63°C or 145°F at its thickest point. Lift it out, drain thoroughly, and reserve ⅓ cup (80 ml / 82 g) of the poaching milk. Process the fish to a fine purée.

6. 6

   Build the soufflé base

   Melt the butter over medium-low heat and stir in the flour. Cook this roux for 1 minute without allowing it to colour, then whisk in the reserved poaching milk gradually. Cook until the panade becomes very thick and pulls cleanly from the saucepan, about 2 minutes. Beat in the haddock purée, salt, and white pepper, then cool until merely lukewarm before beating in the yolks. If the base is too stiff to stir, loosen it with a teaspoon of milk; if it runs from the spoon, return it to gentle heat before adding the yolks and cook until thick. The finished base must hold its shape.

7. 7

   Fold and pipe

   Heat the oven to 230°C conventional or 450°F with a heavy baking sheet on the middle rack. Arrange the pastry shells on parchment and spread about 2 teaspoons of smoked herring-milt purée across each base. Whisk the egg whites to glossy medium-firm peaks, fold one-third into the haddock base to lighten it, then fold in the remainder with broad strokes. If the whites turn dry and grainy, whisk in 1 teaspoon of cold water by hand until supple. Ça se rattrape. Transfer the soufflé to a piping bag fitted with a 6 mm small grooved tip and pipe each tartlet in narrowing spiral rings, finishing with a small peak to form a hive.

   Pipe one practice hive onto a plate, then scrape it back into the bag. The spiral should rise about 4 cm above the tartlet without leaning.
8. 8

   Bake and serve

   Slide the tartlets, still on their parchment, onto the fully heated baking sheet. Bake for exactly 6 minutes without opening the oven, until the hives are visibly risen, their grooves lightly golden, and the centres reach 71°C or 160°F. Move them at once to a warm serving platter and carry them directly to the table. A piped soufflé waits for nobody. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Milt is the male soft roe of the herring, creamy rather than granular. Ask a specialist fishmonger for smoked herring milts or smoked soft roes, sometimes sold under the French name laitances de hareng saur. Ordinary smoked herring flesh is firmer, saltier, and not the same preparation.
• •The small grooved piping tip is essential because the word carries the technique. Wide piping makes a squat mound; the narrow spiral exposes ridges to the oven and gives the tartlet its proper hive.
• •Do not use the broiler. Direct overhead heat colours the ridges before the egg white structure can rise and set. A thoroughly heated oven and a preheated metal sheet are the honest home equivalents to the fierce, even heat of service.
• •Serve with a very dry Champagne or a lean Muscadet. The acidity clears the richness of the milt and butter without trampling the delicate haddock.

Advance Preparation

• •Bake and unmould the pale tartlet shells up to one day ahead. Once completely cool, keep them airtight at room temperature so they remain crisp.
• •Prepare the smoked herring-milt purée up to one day ahead and refrigerate it covered. Let it soften for 15 minutes before spreading.
• •The haddock and panade base can be prepared up to 6 hours ahead, covered directly on its surface, and chilled. Let it lose its refrigerator chill before beating in the yolks.
• •Nothing after the egg whites are folded can wait. Fill, pipe, bake, and serve in one uninterrupted movement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 215g)