Waterzooi

I wanted to make my family a special meal for New Year's Day and since they all love seafood, I made them Flemish waterzooi.

 You can use any seafood you like.  I chose shrimp, salmon, cod, mussels, clams and scallops.

 The classic vegetables are shallots, leeks, celery and onions.

 They are sauteed lightly in butter.

 Then they are cooked in a seafood stock which I made from the shrimp shells.  I added thinly shaved parsnips, carrots and fennel too.

4-6 fingerling potatoes of different colors
1 onion, small dice
1 celery stalk, small dice
1 carrot, small dice
1 leek, small dice
some butter to sweat the veggies
2 eggs yolks
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup dry white wine
pinch of saffron
2-3 cups of fish stock
2-6 shrimp
1/2 pound of cod
1/2 pound of salmon, skin removed
6  clams
6  mussels (cleaned)

Salt and Pepper to taste
Parsley leaves to garnish

 Boil the potatoes and set them aside.  Slice them into disks when they cool.  Cook the clams and mussels until they open.  Poach the fish until it is just cooked through.  Don't overcook. In a small bowl, combine the cream and egg yolks until incorporated. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. 
 While still hot, take some of the stock (about 2 Tbsp) and add that to the egg yolk and cream mixture to temper it, whisk constantly through this process. This will help bring the liaison closer to thickening temperature. Eggs yolks coagulate around 65C, with a little cream, that coagulating temperature is extended to about 85C. If you go above this temperature, the eggs will curdle and the velvety finish will be ruined. So keep that thermometer handy. Once the egg yolk/cream mix has been tempered. Add the tempered liaison back into the pan and stir, again making sure the liquid never goes over say 80C, but above 70C. Remove from the heat.

 These are just awful photos because I was rushed at the end and I made 4 X this recipe.  What you should do is beautifully arrange all of the seafood and potatoes in a nice flat bowl.  Then ladle the silky sauce with the leeks over the top of it all.

Serve this with French bread to dip in the sauce.